News / Defense

Iran seizes tanker smuggling fuel to Arab states in Persian Gulf

Sunday, 04 August 2019 9:03 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 04 August 2019 12:03 PM ]

An image grab taken from a video released on July 18, 2019 shows the Panamanian-flagged tanker Riah, which was detained by Iran four days earlier. (Via AFP)

Iran has confiscated a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel to some Arab countries.

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.

PressTV-Iran’s IRGC seizes foreign vessel smuggling fuel

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has seized a foreign vessel smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf.

On June 19, the IRGC impounded the 30,000-tonne UK-flagged Stena Impero tanker as it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz en route to Saudi Arabia “for failing to respect international maritime rules.”

The vessel had been involved in an accident with an Iranian fishing boat and had ignored its distress call, changing its route.

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