Iran seizes foreign tanker carrying 11m litres of oil

Iran has seized a foreign-flagged oil tanker in Gulf waters which was carrying 11 million litres of oil, Iranian authorities have said.

According to Chief Justice of Hormozgan Province, Mojtaba Ghahremani, forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) today seized the ship after boarding it and discovering its cargo of 11 million litres of oil, in what is reportedly part of a huge smuggling operation.

IRGC forces took the vessel’s captain and crew into custody while the incident is being investigated. No further details were revealed by Ghahremani, including the name of the ship or the country’s flag that it was sailing under.

The intervention of the tanker and the seizing of it is the latest case of Iranian naval forces stopping vessels smuggling oil through Gulf shipping lanes, in a wider attempt to crack down on the smuggling activities taking place by both land and sea.

In May, this year, Iranian naval forces also seized two Greek oil tankers in retaliation to Athens’ detention of a tanker carrying Iranian oil cargo the previous month. The oil was confiscated by the United States due to its sanctions on Tehran and its oil supplies, before Iran retrieved it, months later, and soon after agreed to the release of the two Greek tankers’ crews.

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