Regime That Photoshops Extra Missiles Into Official Photos Accuses US Navy of Staging 'Hollywood Drama' After Iranian Fishermen Rescued

Just days after sailors from the USS Kidd rescued more than a dozen Iranian fishermen captured by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, the Iranian regime accused the United States Navy of staging the entire incident days after a senior Iranian Army commander warned the United States to keep their warships out of the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. Navy announced Friday it had rescued 13 Iranian fishermen being held by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, despite rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

An SH-60S Seahawk from the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd detected the pirates while a simultaneous distress call was received from the Al Molai fishing vessel.

"The Al Molai had been taken over by pirates for roughly the last 40 to 45 days," said Josh Schminky, a Navy Criminal Investigative Service agent aboard the Kidd. "They were held hostage, with limited rations, and we believe were forced against their will to assist the pirates with other piracy operations."

The Navy reports that Iranian boat had been pirated and used as a "mother ship" for pirate operations throughout the Persian Gulf, according to members of the Iranian vessel's crew.

"When we boarded, we gave them food, water, and medical care," Schminky said. "They had been through a lot. We went out of our way to treat the fishing crew with kindness and respect."

The pirates were detained until transferred to the USS John C. Stennis, where the matter will be reviewed for prosecution.

According to the rescued Iranians, they had been held captive by the Somali pirates since mid-November and their vessel was being used as a 'mother ship' to launch attacks on other vessels with the pirates using skiffs to scout for potential targets. After a close call with a French naval vessel and the guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay, the commandeered dhow was discovered by the USS Kidd.



Since most of the crew members of the Iranian dhow were from Eastern Iran, where the native language is Urdu, the captain of the captured vessel was able to reply to the USS Kidd's hails in his native tongue without his Somali captors understanding.

As the U.S. destroyer Kidd loomed alongside this hijacked Iranian dhow, the warship’s loudspeaker issued a command in Urdu to the dhow’s frightened Urdu-speaking crew. U.S. sailors stood ready, weapons in hand. If you have weapons aboard, the voice boomed, put them where we can see them, on the roof of your wheelhouse.

Fifteen Somali pirates were also on board Al Mulahi, crouched and cornered on the very vessel they had seized in November to use as their mother ship. They had knives, a pistol and four assault rifles. But they did not speak Urdu. For a moment, the captors depended on their captives.

They asked their Iranian hostages what the U.S. sailors had just said.

One of the hostages, Khaled Abdulkhaled, answered without pause: “They said they are about to blow this ship up.”

The pirates panicked. Their unity broke down. Each man hoped to surrender, find cover or hide. Discarding their weapons, nine of them crammed into a hold beneath the wheelhouse. Six huddled near the open bow. Soon armed U.S. sailors climbed aboard.

They spotted the six Somalis on the bow, who did not resist. As more of the boarding team swarmed over the side, the Iranian hostages pointed to where the remaining pirates were hiding. The sailors pulled those men out, one by one, into the light and forced them face down onto the deck.

Shortly after the rescue, the same regime that photoshops extra missiles into official photos accused the US Navy of staging a 'Hollywood drama' with the rescue.

Fars reported: 'Basically, rescuing trading and fishing boats from the hands of pirates in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden is considered a completely normal issue.

'A U.S. helicopter filming the rescue operation from the first minute makes it look like a Hollywood drama with specific locations and actors. It shows the Americans tried to publicize it through the media and present the American warship as a savior.'

The semiofficial Fars news agency is considered close to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard military force.

While captured, the Al Mulahi fishing vessel made at least one trip to Somalia for provisions before the crew was rescued in the Indian Ocean some 175 miles south of Muscat, Oman.