Iran’s 5th fleet to head for Gulf of Aden

The Iranian military has announced plans to dispatch a fifth fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

“The fourth fleet, which included the destroyer Alborz and the Bushehr logistic support vessel, will soon reach the end of its mission in the Gulf of Aden,” said the First Naval Operational Zone Chief of the Islamic Republic Navy Admiral Fariborz Qaderpanah.

“It will be replaced by a fifth fleet, which the military plans to dispatch by the end of January,” he added.

According to the admiral, the fifth fleet will be send to the Gulf of Aden from Iran’s southern ports of Bandar-Abbas and Chabahar.

Iran’s naval fleets have been operating in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, after Somali pirates took control of an Iranian ship and held its crew hostage.