An official from the Puntland region says the pirates had not let officials inspect an Iranian ship they seized in the Gulf of Aden.

“We asked the pirates to let Puntland officials go inside the Iranian vessel and see what they are carrying, but they refused,” Hassan Osman Alore, the energy and minerals minister of the autonomous Somali region told the Press TV correspondent on Wednesday.

He said the region's officials asked the pirates to let the ship be investigated after they allegedly received reports that The Iran Diyanat was carrying “weapons to Eritrea”.

Iran's shipping company, however, has declared that the Iranian bulk carrier hired by a German company had no weapons on board and was carrying 42,500 tons of minerals and industrial products.

Ibrahim Mohammad-Nabi, Deputy CEO of Iran's shipping company also confirmed that no Russian or Syrian nationals were aboard the vessel, rejecting claims made by another Puntland minister that an international crew operates the ship.

Pirates have stepped up attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, as Somalia's current transitional government has failed to shackle the pirates in the key commercial shipping lane.

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) issued a new piracy warning to all vessels sailing in the area in August, urging sailors to be especially wary of any approaching smaller craft.

“The situation in this region is grave. These pirates are not afraid to use significant firepower in attempts to bring vessels under their control,” IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan said.

According to reports, vessels sailing in busy shipping lanes were approached by speedboats carrying men armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers. The pirates have often opened fired on unarmed merchant ships.

MT/AA/RZS/RE