Iran reveals it has seized a foreign oil tanker

Iran, (Daily Mail), 18 July 2019 - Iran has seized a foreign tanker with 12 crew smuggling fuel in the Gulf, state television quoted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as saying on Thursday.  

The report says the tanker was smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers and was intercepted south of Iran’s Larak Island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.   

‘A foreign vessel smuggling one million litres of fuel in the Lark Island of the Persian Gulf has been seized,’ the station said, adding that the ship was seized on Sunday.   

The Revolutionary Guards said the impounded vessel was the same one it towed after it sent a distress call.   

The TV didn’t identify the tanker or say which country the crew were from.   

‘The vessel that Iran towed to its waters after receiving a distress call, was later seized with the order from the court as we found out that it was smuggling fuel,’ the Guards said in a statement quoted by state television.