IRGC seizes foreign tanker carrying 2 million liters of fuel

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had seized an oil tanker carrying two million liters of fuel in the Persian Gulf off the coast of southwestern Iran, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, the vessel was carrying the flag of a country in Oceania, although it did not clarify which country's flag this was.

The vessel, which was staffed by 14 foreign crew members from two Asian countries, was seized by the IRGC about 60 miles off the coast of Bushehr, a port city in southwestern Iran.

The IRGC claimed that the fuel was being smuggled illegally. The fuel was transferred to the National Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company of Bushehr province after it was seized by the IRGC.

Recent tanker seizures by Iran

Earlier this month, the Iranian Navy said that it had seized an oil tanker that had been seized last year by the US. The oil tanker, called the Suez Rajan by Iran and the St Nikolas by the US, was seized by Iran in the Gulf of Oman.

In December, the IRGC  seized two oil tankers carrying about 4.5 million liters of fuel, claiming that the tankers were smuggling fuel.

The incident comes amid heightened maritime tensions in the region as the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen intensifies its attacks on maritime traffic in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and a coalition led by the US and UK carries out retaliatory strikes in Yemen.