Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

US Navy Rescues 13 Iranians from Somali Pirates January 6, 2012

In a move that illustrates the brotherhood of the sea and the disdain for piracy wherever it may be, the US rescued 13 Iranian sailors who had been kidnapped by Somali Pirates.  According to MSNBC, a helicopter from the USS John C. Stennis, responding to a distress call from a merchant ship under attack, chased the pirates to their “mother ship”.  The mothership was an Iranian flagged dhow that had been hijacked earlier.  A counterpiracy team from the USS Kidd then boarded the mothership where they found 15 armed pirates and the 13 Iranian crewmen. The pirates were taken into custody and the Iranians were released in their dhow.  Interestingly, the USS John C. Stennis is the same carrier that Iran had threatened to never allow back into the Persian Gulf.   It is a good day that the Iranian sailors are headed back to their families.