Iran's ships will not shun pirate routes

TEHRAN (PRESS TV) -- An Iranian official says the country's oil tankers will not avoid routes where Somali pirates are carrying out attacks on vessels.

On Tuesday, U.S. and Chinese officials announced that Somali pirates have hijacked a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship operated by Iran in the Gulf of Aden.

The pirates attacked the cargo ship named Delight, which was carrying wheat, off the coast of Somalia.

On Saturday, Somali pirates seized a Saudi supertanker with a full load of 2 million barrels of oil and 25 crewmen.

Around a quarter of Iran's 2.4 million barrels per day of crude exports goes to Europe through waters threatened by Somali pirates.

The official from the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), who was not identified, told Reuters, “We haven't made any decision to avoid the region where these pirates have been attacking.”

“We have been very careful when traveling in this region, but now we have to be even more careful,” he added.

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