A foreign-flagged oil tanker was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the Persian Gulf on Monday, with officials saying it was smuggling millions of liters of fuel, local media reported.
Chief Justice of Hormozgan Province Mojtaba Ghahremani said IRGC forces boarded the vessel and discovered it was carrying 11 million liters of oil.
The captain and crew were taken into custody while the incident is being investigated, Ghahremani said.
He did not identify the name of the ship or under which country’s flag it was sailing.
Iran’s naval forces have recently stopped a number of vessels smuggling oil in Gulf sea lanes, according to Iranian reports. The Persian Gulf is a major conduit for shipping the world’s oil.
Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...is trying to stop widespread smuggling of oil and fuel by land and sea to Gulf states, Rooters reported. The smuggling has come as Iran’s currency has plunged under the pressure of US sanctions imposed after the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Under the Trump administration, the US in 2018 pulled out of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which granted Iran relief from sanction in return for curbs on its nuclear program intended to prevent it producing a weapon.
The US reimposed stiff sanctions and Iran responded by dropping many of its own commitments to the pact. European-sponsored talks to revive the deal have failed to reach an agreement.
Iran’s currency, the rial, has since plummeted in value to all-time lows.
In a separate incident earlier this month, Iran’s foreign ministry said the crew of one of two Greek oil tankers seized by Iranian armed forces in May had been replaced by their company.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the ships in the Gulf days after Greece said it would deliver Iranian oil it had taken from a Russian tanker to the United States.
The Russian ship, the Pegas, were tossed into the calaboose by Greece at the request of the United States, which has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, particularly on its oil exports.