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Naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have in recent days seized two tankers smuggling 1.5 million liters of fuel in the Persian Gulf, the Iranian media reported on September 14.
Admiral Mohammad-Sharif Shirali, deputy commander of IRGC’s third marine zone, said that one of the seized tankers carries the flag of Panama while the other carries the flag of Tanzania.
37 crew members of the two vessels from various countries were handed over to the judicial authorities to pass the legal procedures, according to the commander.
The seizure came amid high tensions between the United States and Iran. The escalation began after Iran seized two oil tankers on April 27 and May 3 in the Persian Gulf, reportedly in response to the capture of a China-bound Iranian oil shipment by the U.S. near southern Africa on April 22.
During July, the Pentagon deployed F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, along with several warships and additional marines to the Middle East, in order to deter Iranian naval forces who seized two tankers in the gulf earlier this year. The IRGC responded by holding a series of naval drills in August. .
The U.S. has not commented yet on the Iranian seizures of the two tankers in the Gulf. This indicates that the IRGC claims about the involvement of the tankers in oil smuggling are true.
