Mystery surrounds hijacked Iranian ship, MV Iran Deyanat, Taken to Somalia

Long War Journal reports on an abducted Iranian ship off of the coast of Somalia, whose cargo apparently is causing sickness and death among the pirates who took control of the ship. Hmmmm.

An official Somali delegation secured contact with the captain and the engineer by cell phone and demanded to know the nature of the cargo, however, "they were saying different things to different people." Initially they said that the cargo contained "crude oil" but then claimed it contained "minerals."

In a strange twist, the Iranian press claims that the U.S. has offered to pay a $7 million bribe to the pirates to "receive entry permission and search the vessel." Officials in the Pentagon and the Department of State approached for this story refused to comment on the situation. Somali officials would also not comment on any direct U.S. involvement but one high-level official in the Puntland government told The Long War Journal "I can say the ship is of interest to a lot of people.