Navy Commander: Trans-Regional States Not Allowed in Iran’s Territorial Waters

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari underlined that the country’s Armed Forces are fully ready to repel any possible foreign threat, and said Iran does not allow alien vessels to pass through its territorial waters.
“Trans-regional countries have a presence in Open Seas; but, we do not allow their entrance into our territorial waters,” Sayyari told reporters in the Northern Iranian port city of Bandar Anzali on Thursday.

The Iranian Navy commander reiterated that Iranian Naval forces do not violate the territorial waters of other countries, and said, “World countries are entitled to have their forces sail on High Seas.”

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 via the Suez Canal.

The Iranian Navy’s 29th Fleet has headed to the Atlantic Ocean in line with Iran’s policy to safeguard naval routes for its vessels.

The flotilla, which comprises Kharg helicopter-carrier and Sabalan destroyer, left Bandar Abbas on January 22 on the Navy’s first-ever mission in the Atlantic Ocean.