TEHRAN (FNA)- Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Navy for Operations Admiral Siyavash Jarreh announced that the Navy’s 24th fleet of warship shooed away an Australian reconnaissance plane seeking to approach the Iranian fleet of warships near the coasts of Sri Lanka.
“The Navy’s 24th fleet of warships, comprised of Khark chopper carrier and Sabalan destroyer, which was nearing Sri Lanka’s coasts after leaving Zhangjigang port of China and crossing the line of the Equator, shooed away an Australian reconnaissance plane which was approaching the fleet of warships to take footages,” Jarreh said on Sunday.
“The reconnaissance plane changed its flight route immediately after receiving the warships’ warning but dropped some subsurface units detection devices on the way of the fleet of the warships but all the dropped devices were hunted skillfully and by the timely action of the Iranian Navy forces,” he added.
Jarreh said that the Navy’s 24th fleet of warships managed to monitor the moves of over 130 floating and flying military units during its mission in the international waters.
In December 2012, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced that the Iranian Navy has been able to successfully expand its operational zone to the Northern waters of the Indian Ocean and is now operating in a vast area.
Iran started dispatching warships to the high seas after its cargo vessels and tankers came under attack and were hijacked by Somali pirates. The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
According to UN Security Council resolutions, different countries can send their warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the pirates and even with prior notice to Somali government enter the territorial waters of that country in pursuit of Somali sea pirates.
The Gulf of Aden – which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea – is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West through the Suez Canal.
Via: http://english.farsnews.com/
