Iran to deploy destroyer in Mediterranean

A top Iranian Navy commander says the Islamic Republic will dispatch a destroyer as part of a naval fleet to the Red and Mediterranean Seas in the near future.

“Two or four ships always participate in naval missions, one or two of which are warships and the other is a logistic ship,” Iranian Navy’s Deputy Commander Rear Admiral Gholam-Reza Khadem Bigham told Fars News Agency on Sunday.

The Iranian Navy’s presence in the region has expanded, and the country’s ships are present in the Gulf of Aden and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Bigham added.

In 2010, Iran’s ninth flotilla along with two destroyers was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden with the objective of protecting Iranian commercial vessels against Somali pirates.

The tenth Iranian flotilla along with the Chiro and Lark destroyers has also been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden.

In line with international efforts against piracy, the Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008 to safeguard maritime trade and in particular 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 more than 20,000 vessels going from Asia to Europe and the Americas every year.