News / Defense

Iran seizes two foreign tankers smuggling fuel in Persian Gulf

Friday, 15 September 2023 11:07 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 15 September 2023 11:07 AM ]

The file photo shows an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) soldier on board a vessel in Iran's southern waters.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has seized two foreign oil tankers smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf waters.

“In the past two days, the forces of the third zone of IRGC’s Navy seized two oil tankers that were engaged in an organized smuggling of the Islamic Republic’s oil and gas in the Persian Gulf,” the deputy Commander of the IRGC’s Third Naval Zone, Mohammad Sharif Shirali, said on Friday.

He identified the vessels as Panama and Tanzania-flagged tankers named “Stephen” and “Crown”, adding that their seizure took place upon judicial order.

Some 1.5 million liters of fuel were confiscated during the operation.

The IRGC’s naval forces managed to “guide the seized tankers to Bandar-e Mahshahr and Arvand base”, and handed over the 37 crew members who were on board the vessels to the legal authorities, Shirali said.

He stressed that the IRGC’s naval forces “vigilantly” monitors “all illegal moves by foreign commercial and military vessels” in the Persian Gulf region.

The IRGC’s Navy confiscated more than 50 million liters of smuggled fuel, mainly diesel, in various missions last year.

It has over the past years foiled several attacks on both Iranian and foreign tankers in the strategic Persian Gulf region and other high seas.

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