Iran seizes tanker carrying smuggled fuel in Strait of Hormuz, state news agency says

Tehran, Iran – Iran seized a foreign oil tanker while traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state media said on Friday.

Mojtaba Ghahramani, provincial head of the justice department, said the tanker was carrying about 4 million liters (25,000 barrels) of smuggled fuel when Revolutionary Guard naval forces seized the ship, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ghahramani said forces also detained 16 foreign members of the tanker’s crew, adding that the seizure was a notable “blow” for smugglers. He did not reveal the nationality of the crew or the flag of the tanker.

Iran sometimes seizes ships carrying oil on similar charges in the region. In November, Iran seized a ship while traveling through the Strait of Hormuz for what he said were violations, including transporting an illegal shipment.

The West has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on ships that damaged oil tankers in 2019, as well as a drone attack on an oil tanker linked to Israel that killed two European crew members in 2021. Those attacks began after President Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran also seized the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship MSC Aries in April 2024.

Following Years of tensions between Iran and the West.In addition to the situation in the Gaza Strip, Iran experienced a 12-day large-scale war with Israel in June, whose attacks led to the deaths of senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iran’s retaliatory missile strike killed 28 people in Israel.

Tehran has long threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all traded oil passes. The US Navy has long patrolled the Middle East through its Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet to keep waterways open.