Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have seized a Panama-registered vessel in the Gulf for smuggling 300.000 liters of fuel, while detained all of its crewmembers, Fars news agency reported.
In fact, the agency noted that there were 10 crewmembers onboard, but did not specify their nationality.
For the records, this is not the first time Iran seizes a foreign oil vessel.
About two months ago, Iran has seized a tugboat which was allegedly smuggling fuel and detained its 12 Filipino crew, as the vessel was transmitting about 284,000 litres of diesel.
Namely, Iran, which has some of the world’s cheapest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the fall of its national currency as it faces U.S. sanctions, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighboring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.
Concluding, Iranian media assessments, cited by Reuters, estimate that approximately 10 million litres of fuel are smuggled per day.
