Iran Seizes Vessel in Persian Gulf Accused of Smuggling Fuel Tehran claims ship that was detained on Wednesday was carrying 700,000 liters of fuel
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has seized a vessel accused of smuggling fuel and detained its crew, Iranian state television reported, in another case of Tehran interdicting ships in the volatile Persian Gulf.
The report on Sunday said the Guard’s Navy patrol forces seized the vessel, along with 700,000 liters of smuggled fuel and, in coordination with Iranian judicial authorities, impounded it near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that a video of the moment the vessel was interdicted showed it was Iraqi. Maritime confrontations between Iran and Iraq are considered rare. The Iraqi ship’s seizure would follow July’s visit to Tehran by Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who has sought to ease tensions between the U.S. and Iran, both close allies of Iraq.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry said it had no relation to the detained vessel. Spokesman Assem Jihad said the ministry was gathering information on the vessel, describing it as smaller than those that officially market its oil and products.
Gen. Ramezan Zirahi, a navy forces commander in the Guard, was quoted by Iran’s Fars News Agency as saying the fuel had been transferred to the vessel from another ship, and was bound for Arab countries in the region when it was stopped. The seven detained crew members were foreign, he said, without naming their nationality or that of the vessel.
The ship’s seizure took place last on Wednesday, Sepah News, the Revolutionary Guard’s official news service, reported, a day after United Arab Emirates officials traveled to Iran to discuss maritime border cooperation and the flow of shipping traffic, including illegal movements.
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