🇸🇴 - The identities of the two vessels recently hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have now been confirmed.

On August 17, the Turkish military cargo vessel LUTOF was seized while en route to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia's federal government. Turkey remains as one of Somalia's closest security and political partners, having provided extensive support to Mogadishu in its struggle against separatist and breakaway regions in the north, as well as the Jubaland project.

Three days later, on August 20, pirates boarded the Iranian-linked ghost tanker SEAMULL, now operating under the name SIBU-1, as it attempted to transit the Bab el-Mandeb on its way to Port Sudan, Sudan's wartime capital. Iran has been widely accused of discreetly supplying fuel, weapons, and other forms of assistance to the Sudanese government in its war against the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces, RSF.

As Rerum Novarum has previously reported, Somali pirate groups should not be viewed as isolated criminal actors operating independently. Rather, they function as proxies with ties to elements within the Puntland administration, the semi-autonomous breakaway region that has long enjoyed significant political and financial support from the United Arab Emirates.