Somali piracy surges as Iran war fallout ripples across Indian Ocean shipping lanes
The number of ships attacked by Somali pirates has risen to at least 13 since January, with two vessels seized within four days last week, according to a BBC investigation that links the resurgence partly to disruption caused by the US-Iran war in the Gulf. The figure marks a sharp reversal of the near-decade decline in piracy off the Horn of Africa and has prompted renewed warnings to merchant shipping transiting the Gulf of Aden.
By Source Reporters Newsdesk
Sat, 29 August 2026 · 2 min read
The number of ships attacked by Somali pirates has risen to at least 13 since January, with two vessels seized within four days last week, according to a BBC investigation that links the resurgence partly to disruption caused by the US-Iran war in the Gulf. The figure marks a sharp reversal of the near-decade decline in piracy off the Horn of Africa and has prompted renewed warnings to merchant shipping transiting the Gulf of Aden.
According to the BBC, the recent attacks have been concentrated in waters close to the Yemeni coast, an area that analysts say has become harder for international naval patrols to monitor as Western warships have been redeployed to the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf. The piracy surge comes as Iran's Revolutionary Guards have asserted strict control over the strait and a US naval blockade continues, conditions that have pushed some commercial traffic to divert around the Cape of Good Hope — a longer route that takes vessels closer to pirate-prone waters.
The BBC feature notes that the hijackings echo the piracy crisis of 2008-2012, when Somali groups at the height of their power held more than 700 crew hostage in a single year. The current spike is small by comparison but is the worst since 2017 and is testing the capacity of Combined Task Force 151, the multinational counter-piracy naval group, whose assets have been stretched by Middle East deployments.
A second tanker was hijacked off Yemen within three months in July, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported at the time, in what observers called the most serious escalation in Gulf of Aden piracy in years. Shipping insurers have begun raising war-risk premiums for transits and several major operators have ordered vessels to remain at least 200 nautical miles off the Somali coast, a measure not routinely in force since the height of the earlier crisis.
**Sources:** BBC
Source Reporters corrects errors promptly. Spotted something wrong? Tell us — read our editorial standards and corrections policy.