Iran Guards Say They Have Seized a 'Foreign Tanker'
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had detained a "foreign tanker" and its crew for allegedly smuggling fuel in the Gulf.
The tanker was seized on Sunday "south of the (Iranian) island of Larak" in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the force's Sepahnews website said.
The Guards did not detail the name or provenance of the vessel.
"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 said.
The announcement comes two days after Iran said it had come to the aid of a foreign tanker after receiving a distress call -- making no mention of the vessel being seized.
"Iranian forces approached it and using a tugboat brought it into Iranian waters for necessary repairs," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
TankerTrackers reported that the Panamanian-flagged tanker Riah, used in the Strait of Hormuz "for fuelling other vessels", had crossed into Iranian waters on Sunday.
According to the online oil shipment tracking service, at that point the tanker's automatic identification system stopped sending signals.
The incident comes amid soaring tensions in the Gulf, with US President Donald Trump calling off air strikes against Iran at the last minute after Tehran downed an American drone.
Washington has blamed Tehran for a series of tanker attacks in recent months off the United Arab Emirates coast, charges Iran denies.
ahm/mj/rsc/dr
© Agence France-Presse
18 July 2019, 15:20
03
Either the IRG or the Foreign Ministry is lying. Or they are talking about two ships.
18 July 2019, 15:26
04
Iran's foreign minister denied yesterday his country seized an oil tanker. The terrorist revolutionary guards says today otherwise.
18 July 2019, 16:01
04
Dudes.. so the tanker than sent a distress signal on Sunday.. and that the Iranians said they were helping.. has become a fuel smuggling tanker on Thursday... took them five days to figure this out... Obviously crack troops them Iranian Revolutionary Guards.. the emphases should be on crack I suppose... And they say drugs is counter to their dogma.. as is alcohol I believe... Yet the lucky bastards have a whole Island dedicated to L'Arak!.. How much of l'Arak had they consumed.. for them to wake up five days later.. from a drunken stupor.. Don't get me wrong.. I've been know to partake.. in the customary long Lebanese mezzeh sitdowns meals.. where l'Aral is the star libation.. but I would think them Islamic Republic of Iranians.. would have alcohol free libations.. like prune juice... On second thought.. now I understand better why Mohammad Javad Zarif is always so jovial.. I had an uncle who made his own Arak like that..
18 July 2019, 20:39
03
A nuclear bomb should be dropped on Iran and its terrorist regime.
19 July 2019, 17:23
00
The missing oil tanker was last seen penetrating blablablablablabla's slippery deep and wide luv tunnel and depositing its lubricants inside it so he may attract more thrusting visitors.
