Iran's Foreign Ministry is relentlessly seeking to learn of the hijacked Iran-bound grain ship and take its safe delivery from Somali pirates.

“We are following up the issue through embassies, Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council and related organs to secure release of the ship and its crewmembers as soon as possible,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told IRNA on Saturday.

Somali pirates - prowling the treacherous waters off the Horn of Africa - captured the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship Delight and its 25 crewmembers late Tuesday morning off the coast of Yemen.

The merchant ship was hauling 36,000 metric tons of wheat to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf.
Earlier, the bulk carrier Iran Deyanat - owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) - was hijacked on August 21. It had 29 Iranian and non-Iranian crew on board at the time. It was later freed on October 10.

"We hope the follow up will bear fruits soon and that through adopting practical and safe strategies will prevent recurrence of similar problems," Mottaki highlighted.

Piracy in the Gulf of Aden has become a scourge, threatening shipping lanes and driving up insurance costs.

The pirates often stage their heists from Somalia, a lawless country with a weak central government that is grappling with a violent insurgency. Using speedboats that swarm the targets, the machine-gun-toting pirates take control of merchant ships and then hold the vessels, crew and cargo for ransom.

MP/HAR