Developing Story: Iran seizes another foreign oil tanker ‘for smuggling fuel to Arab states’ – reports
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) seized a foreign oil tanker they say was smuggling fuel to some Arab states, Iranian news outlets reported on Sunday.
A commander with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Ramezan Zirahi, told Fars news agency on Sunday that patrols from the IRGC’s Naval District 2 had seized the ship near the Persian Gulf island of Farsi on Wednesday night after intelligence gathering.
“The foreign vessel was receiving fuel from other ships and was transferring it to the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf,” he said, without naming countries. “700,000 liters of fuel have been seized and seven sailors, from different nationalities, have been detained.”
Zirahi said coordination for the detainment had been made with judicial sources.
On July 14, the IRGC seized the Panamanian-flagged Riah tanker for smuggling one million liters of Iranian fuel south of Larak Island in the Persian Gulf.
Last month, Iranian authorities seized the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz last month, with Foreign minister Javad Zarif arguing the country was “upholding international maritime rules.”
The seizure came a couple of weeks after British forces detained an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar which they say was heading for Syria in violation of sanctions.
