The Iranian Navy's 24th fleet, including two destroyers named 'Sabalan' and 'Kharg', were dispatched from the first naval zone on an extraterritorial mission to the Northern Indian Ocean, IRNA reported.
The Iranian Navy dispatched the 24th flotilla of warships to the international waters in the Northern Indian Ocean to defend the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against the continued attacks by pirates.
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Army Brigadier General Abdolrahim Mousavi in a ceremony held to celebrate the event noted that the continued regional failures of the Zionist regime and Iranian navy's successful anti-piracy operations have made the ground for Iranian navy more sensitive.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the international waters in 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 Somalia's coastal waters against the pirates and even with the prior notice to the 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