Iranian naval forces on Saturday seized a foreign ship for allegedly smuggling fuel in the Gulf. The ship’s crew members were arrested by the Iranian forces. The ship was reportedly carrying 757,000 litres of smuggled fuel.
“A foreign vessel carrying 757,000 litres of smuggled fuel has been seized,” said General Ramazan Zirahi, a commander of the Revolutionary Guards maritime forces, as quoted by Iran’s state media. There were seven crew members on the ship and all of them were foreign nationals.
Meanwhile, the exact date when the vessel was seized is not known. As per Zirahi, the vessel was seized 60 miles off the coast of Iran. It was intended to deliver the fuel to other countries. The commander of the Revolutionary Guards maritime forces did not mention whether the fuel originated in Iran.
The nationalities of the arrested crew members or the flag under which it sailed is not disclosed yet. The ship was reportedly carrying gasoline. Notably, Iran has the cheapest petrol prices in the world. Due to this reason, smuggling petrol to other countries is a lucrative business.
Last month, Iran briefly seized a military unmanned research vessel, Saildrone Explorer, of the United States in the Persian Gulf As per the US Central Command’s 5th Fleet, a support ship from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN), the Shahid Baziar towed the US research vessel. The US vessel was released after four hours. Earlier this month also Iran seized two US sea drones in the Red Sea for a brief period of time.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
