US Navy rescues Iranians held hostage by pirates

US naval forces in the Arabian Sea is reported to have rescued 13 Iranian fishermen who were held hostage by pirates for more than a month, even as Iran threatened fresh military maneuvers and warned the US Nay against returning to the Persian Gulf.

Reports said the US strike forces led by aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis, which is Tehran's worry, freed the Iranians without firing a shot. The forces also took 15 pirates believed to be from Somalia prisoner.

The fishermen were sent back home with food and fuel and with baseball caps spotting the name of USS Kidd, the warship that freed them.

"Once we released them, they went on their way very happily, waving to us, wearing USS Kidd Navy ballcaps," Rear Admiral Craig Faller, commander of the carrier strike group, was quoted as saying.

There was no official communication with Tehran on the rescue, but the US state department said it was only a ''humanitarian gesture'' unrelated to its row with the Iranian government.

US does not have any formal diplomatic relations with Iran.