Huh? What pirates would those be? Not these Somalians.
What I'm waiting for is the back story. Like what when on for 40+ days. It might have taken that long for the hijackers to get far enough away from the wheelhouse, and the captain to escape watchful eyes, enough for him to get off a message. Then again, maybe not?
Whatever the case, it sounds like the pirates were able to be captured without taking a shot. Being as they were on an Iranian fishing boat, and it was U.S. Navy that was making the contact, perhaps the Somalians thought they Navy would just convert the entire boat into splinters if they didn't surrender. That would be more likely to occur with some other navy, than the U.S. Navy, like the Russians or Chinese, if we are looking to find a lack of sophistication.
Another angle here is that the Somalis will likely claim the Iranians were fishing in Somalian waters. There is a legitimate beef of a sorts there, which the Somalians have been trying to use as cover for their own piracy.
What was an Iranian fishing boat doing there in the first place?
I'm something of an expert in regards to commercial fishing, but the photo didn't show enough detail to indicate to me what sort of fishing this vessel could be used for, other than some sort of hook-and-line method. So what kind of fishing was this boat capable of doing? What were they looking for? Tuna? Although I'm broadly experienced, I'm not expert for every fishery in the world, particularly as to time and location. I'm more of an Easter Pacific, and North Pacific kind of guy.
But it is true boats from nations all over in that area are attracted to that region off of Somalia, with one reason being the lack of working governing authority, but some other reasons could be due to water conditions (if chasing migratory tuna or other top-water species) and perhaps bottom structure conditions favorable to various species, but not hammered as much by past years of over-fishing, like many other nations.
I’ve heard about this fishing thing. If those Iranians were fishing illegally in Somalian waters then they have a legitimate beef - but why then hold them? Sail the boat to Somalia, put them off and confiscate their boat so they can go fishing.