Iran Guards seize ‘foreign tanker’ accused of smuggling fuel

Tehran: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had detained a “foreign tanker” and its 12 crew for allegedly smuggling fuel, the latest incident in a tense standoff in the Gulf.
The announcement came after Tehran said it had come to the aid of a foreign tanker after receiving a distress call, but made no mention of the vessel being seized.
The Guards did not confirm whether the vessel they had detained Sunday in the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz was the same ship as that mentioned Tuesday by the foreign ministry.
“With a capacity of two million barrels and 12 foreign crew on board, the vessel was en route to deliver contraband fuel received from Iranian boats to foreign ships in farther regions when it was intercepted,” the force’s Sepahnews website said.
The ship was seized south of the Iranian island of Larak, the Guards said, without detailing its name or provenance.
On Thursday, Iranian television broadcast footage appearing to show patrol boats of a kind used by the Guards, circling a tanker marked “Riah” and “Panama”.