Tehran, April 25, IRNA – Iran Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the Navy's 34th flotilla are currently patrolling in the waters of Gulf of Aden in the mouth of Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

The commander rejected certain reports by a US official that Iranian flotilla have left the area.

Sayyari said one of the strategic goals of Iran's Navy is providing security for the country's maritime transport routes.

Iran's 34th flotilla consisting Bushehr logistic ship and Alborz destroyer were deployed to the Gulf of Aden on April 3.

Sayyari had already rejected reports that the country’s fleet has been warned to leave the Gulf of Aden.

The Islamic Republic’s Navy is patrolling around the northern Indian Ocean in full might and in accordance with the international regulations, he added.

Sayyari noted that the Iranian fleet is keeping security over maritime transport routes and that its Navy is protecting cargo ships in high seas.

'We have rescued our cargo ships and ships of other countries from pirates,' the official underlined.

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, and 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 the Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West via the Suez Canal

By IRNA