Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has seized a vessel in the Persian Gulf that was allegedly carrying around 4 million litres of smuggled fuel, detaining 16 foreign crew members, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.
The ship was intercepted by IRGC naval forces as it was preparing to leave Iran’s territorial waters, according to Brigadier General Abbas Gholamshahi, commander of the IRGC Navy’s First Naval Zone.
He said the operation was conducted based on specific intelligence assessments and ongoing monitoring of maritime traffic in the region.
Iranian authorities said intelligence indicated that the vessel had collected the fuel from multiple smaller boats and was planning to transfer the cargo to larger vessels outside the Persian Gulf.
The ship was described as being part of an organised fuel-smuggling network operating in the area.
Gholamshahi stated that the crew members, all of whom were non-Iranian nationals, had been handed over to
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