The IRGC’s news website reported on Wednesday that the ship was carrying 4 million liters of smuggled fuel when it was seized inside Iran’s territorial waters.
Commander of the IRGC’s First Naval Zone, Brigadier General Abbas Gholamshahi, said that 16 crew members aboard the ship, all non-Iranian nationals, were also detained during the operation.
Gholamshahi added that the tanker was part of an organized fuel-smuggling network operating in the region and was planning to offload its cargo onto larger vessels outside the Persian Gulf.
He said the vessel and its crew had been handed over to judicial authorities, adding that the fate of the seized fuel will be determined in accordance with Iranian laws and regulations.
“Any attempt to bypass laws and illegally transfer fuel out of territorial waters will be met with a swift and decisive response,” said the commander.
The IRGC has stepped up its crackdown on fuel smuggling in the Persian Gulf amid a rise in such cases, which experts attribute to the growing gap between Iran’s low domestic fuel prices and higher rates in neighboring countries.
In late November, the force seized an Eswatini-flagged vessel carrying 350,000 liters of smuggled fuel.
In a separate case unrelated to fuel smuggling that drew international attention in mid-November, the IRGC seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker outside Iran’s territorial waters after determining that it was carrying an unauthorized petrochemical cargo belonging to Iran.
The vessel, named Talara, was released a few days later after its cargo was offloaded.