The Navy forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have seized an oil tanker that was smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf, TASNIM reported, citing the head of the Public Relations Department of the IRGC Navy's second naval zone.
According to the official, the tanker was smuggling 250,000 litres of fuel. The vessel was confiscated, while seven members of its crew were arrested, he said.
Last week, the IRGC forces seized a foreign vessel carrying 220,000 liters of smuggled fuel in Parsian County, south of Iran’s Hormozgan province. Eleven crew members were detained then, TASNIM reported, citing Mojtaba Ghahramani, head of the Justice Department of Hormozgan. According to Ghahramani, the IRGC forces also stopped an Iranian boat on its way to deliver 20,000 litres of diesel to a foreign vessel. The fuel was confiscated and returned to an oil refinery.
The IRGC's Navy has recently averted several attacks on both Iranian and foreign tankers, TASNIM added.
Last month, the US claimed it had seized an Iranian oil tanker that was allegedly transporting fuel in violation of US sanctions. Tehran rejected the allegations that it owned the fuel stored on the vessel.
Iran's Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji said that the country's oil exports have been on the rise despite the US sanctions thanks to using "different methods used to win contracts and finding different buyers".