Iran Navy saves cargo ship from pirates

The Norway-flagged MV Rosita came under attack on Sunday when a number of armed people on-board several skiffs approached the ship at high speed. The Iranian warships patrolling the area rushed to assist the cargo vessel upon its distress call, which reported an unauthorized boarding attempt by unknown parties. Iranian Navy marines managed to foil the pirate attack on the vessel after they reached the area. No fire fight was reported between the crews of the Iranian ships and the pirates. The vessel with deadweight of 52,338 metric tons was en route from an Indian port to Qatar. Iran's Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Ali Akbar Marzban said on May 18 that Iran's Navy has conducted at least 85 anti-piracy missions in international waters over the past three years. He highlighted that more than 2,000 cargo vessels have also received Iranian naval escorts through the pirate-infested waters during the mentioned period. Iran's Navy has been multiplying its naval presence in the international waters since last year, deploying vessels to the Indian Ocean and dispatching two ships via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean for the first time in February 2011 In addition, in line with the international efforts to combat piracy, the Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008 to safeguard the vessels involved in maritime trade, especially the ships and oil tankers owned or leased by Iran. The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for thousands of vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas. However, attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.