An Iranian warship on Saturday repulsed an attack by pirates against two oil tankers that it was escorting in the Gulf of Aden, the country's naval chief said.

"Navy commandoes were successful in repulsing this morning the attack by pirates against an Iranian commercial convoy in the Gulf of Aden," said navy commander Admiral Shahram Irani, quoted on Saturday by the official IRNA news agency. 

"The destroyer Alborz was escorting two oil tankers when they were attacked by five pirate ships," he said, noting that Iranian shots were fired, forcing "the attackers to leave the area".