Tehran, Iran, Nov. 7
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Tehran says that a political approach to the case of a dozen Iranian fishermen who were hijacked by Somali pirates a year ago is impossible.
“We have no relations with Somalia. It lacks an effective government,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told a news conference, Trend correspondent reported from the event November 7.
In November 2015 Somali pirates hijacked an Iranian fishing vessel with 15 crew members. Two other Iranian fishing ships were captured by suspected pirates in March of that year. The 16 crew members of one boat managed to raise anchor and escape in August, but the other ship and 26 crew members remained in captivity.
Qassemi said that it is hard to deal with pirates, but added that Iran is doing everything possible to save the hostages.
“We have not been publicizing the development of the case due to concern for the lives of the captives. It is a complicated story,” the spokesman said.
He refrained from answering a question as to what organizations in Iran are making attempts to free the captives, but assured that “it is not a forgotten case.”
Iranian news outlets have reported that the families of some of the captives have paid the pirates to free their beloved ones, but the pirates have not set their hostages free.
Somalia’s government cut diplomatic ties and recalled its envoys in January 2016 after accusing the Iranian Embassy of establishing sects that pose a threat to national security in the Horn of Africa nation.
Tehran considers the severing of ties to have been influenced by Saudi Arabia.
A few days after Somalia announced its decision, Reuters said it had found documents showing that Somalia received a pledge of aid for $50 million from Saudi Arabia on the same day it announced it was cutting ties with Saudi rival Iran.