IRGC Seizes Oil Tanker Smuggling Fuel in Persian Gulf

Head of the Public Relations Department of the IRGC Navy’s 2nd naval zone said on Friday that the military forces have seized an oil tanker that was smuggling 250,000 liters of fuel.

Speaking to Tasnim in the southern port city of Bushehr, Colonel Gholam Hossein Hosseini said the haul of smuggled fuel has been captured in the Persian Gulf.

The vessel has been confiscated in the operation and seven crew of the ship have been arrested, he added.

Last week, the IRGC forces had seized a foreign vessel carrying 220,000 liters of smuggled fuel in Parsian County, south of Iran’s Hormozgan province.

“During the inspection of this vessel, more than 220,000 liters of smuggled fuel were seized and 11 foreign crew members were detained,” Mojtaba Ghahramani, head of the Justice Department of Hormozgan said.

He said the IRGC had also seized an Iranian boat carrying 20,000 liters of diesel that sought to supply fuel to the foreign vessel, adding that its three crews were arrested.

He noted that the confiscated fuel was delivered back to Hormozgan’s oil refinery.

The IRGC's Navy has foiled several attacks on both Iranian and foreign tankers.

The elite force recently released detailed footage of its confrontation on October 25, 2021, against an American act of piracy targeting an Iranian fuel shipment.

During the episode, American forces confiscated the tanker that was carrying a cargo of Iranian oil in the strategic Sea of Oman, transferring its consignment of crude to another vessel.

The IRGC then staged a maritime operation against the second vessel, landing its helicopters on its deck and navigating the ship towards Iranian waters.