When an American destroyer, the USS Kidd, received a distress call from an Iranian fishing boat on Thursday, they took immediate action. They sent a helicopter to get a closer look and spotted what looked like Somali pirates on board. With sufficient force, they convinced the fifteen pirates to lay down their weapons and surrender to a boarding party. They had been holding the men hostage for more than a month and using their boat as a mother ship for other raids.
The pirates were transferred from the Kidd to the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and the fishermen were fed, loaded up with provisions and headed for home wearing USS Kidd baseball caps.
The US has no diplomatic relations with Tehran so there has been no communication with Iran about the rescue, described as a “humanitarian gesture.” But nobody seems to know what to do with the pirates. The US have picked up over 1,000 who are under prosecution in 20 countries but it’s not clear where to send them and who will do the prosecuting.
I wonder if Iran sees the irony – last week they were threatening dire action if the Stennis returned to the gulf saying “We are not in the habit of warning more than once” and 13 lucky fisherman are very glad that she did.
Footnote: Iran responded to the rescue yesterday. "We consider the actions of the US forces in saving the lives of the Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act and we welcome such behaviour," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran's Arabic-language broadcaster Al-Alam. He added "We think all nations should display such behaviour.”
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