Somali pirate menace returns as U.S.-Iran war stokes regional chaos and saps enforcement resources

A 2010 photo of an armed Somali pirate keeping vigil on the coastline at Hobyo, northeastern Somalia, while the Greek cargo ship, MV Filitsa is anchored just off the shores of Hobyo where it was held by pirates after beimng captured some 513 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles as it was sailing from Kuwait to Durban in South Africa loaded with fertilizer. Mohamed Dahir | Afp | Getty ImagesSomali pirates are back in business.Piracy in the region around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden had faded in recent years after peaking around 2010, thanks to prevention and enforcement from the U.S. Navy along with an international coalition of partners. But with the Iran war both sucking away American resources and fomenting regional instability, conditions have allowed for a return of the notorious practice.The cargo vessel Lutuf was boarded and seized on Aug. 17 by eight armed men around four nautical miles off the Somali coast. Another tanker, MT Asana, a Tanzanian-flagged oil and chemical tanker, was seized by a group in the Gulf of Aden a month ago and taken toward Somalia's Puntland region.For would-be pirates in a country currently grappling with drought, worsening food insecurity, an...