Pirates, U.s. Navy | featured news

Iran on Saturday welcomed the rescue of 13 Iranian sailors by a U.S. Navy ship, calling it a "humanitarian act." The sailors were on a fishing boat that had been hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea, near the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Navy, a helicopter from the destroyer USS Kidd spotted a suspect pirate boat alongside the Iranian vessel on Thursday. The destroyer is part of the USS John Stennis Strike Group, which moved into the Arabian Sea from the Persian Gulf last week.

A Somali man who admitted his role in an attack on a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison under an agreement that could return him to court to testify against five countrymen accused in the attack.

The U.S. Navy is holding six suspected pirates after a sea battle off the Horn of Africa.

Suspected Somali pirates fired on a U.S. Navy warship off East Africa early Thursday in what appeared to be a ransom-seeking attack on an American guided missile frigate, officials said.