Iran holds a new oil tanker in the Gulf and arrests seven sailors
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday it was holding a foreign ship smuggled gasoline near a Persian island in the Gulf waters.
In a statement, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces confirmed that the ship had been towed to Bushehr port in southern Iran, according to Iranian Students news agency, ISNA.
The announcement said that “the detention of the ship, which smuggled 800 thousand liters of gasoline, was in coordination with the judicial authorities in the port of Bushehr”, noting that “the delivery of fuel smuggled to the National Company for Petroleum Derivatives in Bushehr province”.
“The vessel was detained on Wednesday along with its crew of seven”, said Commander Ramzan Zerahi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ 2nd Marine Zone, adding that the foreign vessel was smuggling oil to a Gulf country.
“The Revolutionary Guards will continue to defend Iran’s national interests in the waters of the Gulf and will not back down from that”, Brigadier General Ramadan Zerahi said.
“Iran will continue to monitor and monitor all vessels in the Gulf waters to detect organized smuggling”.
The past weeks have seen an escalation between Iran and Britain, where London has ruled out any exchange or barter with Iran, including the liberation of Tehran British oil tanker seized in the Gulf, in return for the liberation of London, Iran’s suspended oil tanker in Gibraltar.
