Iranian state media reported on Friday that two oil tankers that were purportedly transporting gasoline smuggling in the Gulf had been captured and their crews detained.
“The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized two ships over the course of the last two days,” state television said, citing Mohammad-Sharif Shirali, a Guards commander.
“The seized tankers… flying the flags of Panama and Tanzania were transporting more than 1.5 million litres (400,000 gallons) of Iranian oil and gas,” he said.
“The Guards escorted the confiscated ships to the port of Mahshahr” in the country’s southwest, Shirali said.
“Thirty-seven crew members were handed over to judicial authorities in Mahshahr,” he added.
The US Navy has increased its presence in the Gulf in recent weeks, accusing Iran of seizing or attempting to seize ships in this vital transportation route for world trade.
One day after accusing Iranian forces of making two identical efforts off the coast of Oman, the US military said on July 6 that the Guards had seized a commercial ship in the Gulf.
More than a million liters of “smuggled fuel” were being transported, according to Tehran, by the stopped ship.
