Economic calamity combined with opportunity from the Iran war has emboldened Somalia’s pirates to return to the seas in search of multimillion-dollar ransom payments. Over a decade after fading from public consciousness, Somali piracy is making a comeback. Once the scourge of the maritime community, Somali mariners are responsible for at least 17 piracy-related incidents in either Somali waters or the Gulf of Aden between January-May of this year. Piracy incidents in Somali waters and the Gulf of Aden have risen sharply since the spring, after several years in which the crime had all but disappeared from the region. Shipping companies increasingly treated the threat as manageable, and Western navies no longer prioritized it. However, piracy did not disappear, it simply went dormant. Somali piracy is now re-emerging amid a changed geopolitical environment and Somalia’s deepening humanitarian crisis. Somali pirates have hijacked an Iranian fishing boat called the Azini with 23 people on board. The Maritime Security Center Indian Ocean says the vessel was approaching a commercial shipping lane and could be used as a base for more attacks. US-Israel war on Iran and political instability in Somalia lead to pirates targeting cargo ships off Horn of Africa. An armed Somali pirate is seen on the coastline while a Greek cargo ship is anchored off the shores of Hobyo, in northeastern Somalia, after being held by pirates in January 2010. Somali. Somali-armed gangs - pirates off the East Coast of Africa - have attacked eight ships since April, boarded them and taken their crew for ransom. The international naval forces patrolling the. This is a list of Somali pirates, including those associated with local sea robber gangs, privateer -like freelance groups affiliated with armed private militias and Islamist militant groups, alongside Red Sea and Indian Ocean pirates and others involved in piracy off the coast of Somalia. The Gulf of Aden is a nightmare for ships as they are attacked by pirates every now and then. The pirates have formed different groups to attack the ships.