Iran has claimed to have seized a foreign tanker carrying 6 million litres of “stolen diesel” in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian state media reported on Friday. The ship was carrying some Bangladeshi crew members, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
Fuel prices in Iran are among the lowest in the world due to massive subsidies and a devaluation of the national currency, making it extremely profitable to smuggle it to other countries. The country is struggling to stop the massive smuggling of fuel by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.
State broadcaster IRIB did not mention the name of the tanker or its country of origin on its website.
Iran’s Fars News Agency said the ship was carrying 18 crew members from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. It did not specify how many Bangladeshi crew members were on board.
The Fars News Agency quoted an official in Hormozgan province as saying that an oil tanker carrying smuggled diesel fuel was seized off the coast of the Sea of Oman.
Iranian officials claimed that all navigation systems of the vessel were disabled.
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Iranian forces regularly seize such vessels; in most cases, they claim that the vessels are seized for illegally transporting fuel in the Gulf.
Last month, Iran seized an oil tanker in Gulf waters “on charges of carrying unauthorised goods.” It insisted that it was not a retaliatory measure against any other country.
The latest seizure of the ship came two days after the United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Washington claims that the captain of the ship was transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran. The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Venezuela in 2022 for alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.
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