Iranian authorities have detained 18 crew members of a foreign tanker seized in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported on Saturday, saying the vessel was carrying 6 million liters of smuggled fuel.
The detainees include the ship’s captain, Iranian media said, citing the judiciary in Hormozgan province. Authorities did not identify the tanker and said an investigation was underway. The semi-official Fars news agency later reported that the crew included nationals of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Iranian officials said the tanker was seized on Friday after committing multiple violations, including ignoring stop orders, attempting to flee, and lacking navigation and cargo documentation.
The detention follows a series of vessel seizures announced by Iranian authorities in recent weeks. In mid-November, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy confirmed the seizure of a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker off Iran’s Makran coast. Later in November, the Guards said they seized an Eswatini-flagged vessel in the Persian Gulf carrying about 350,000 liters of smuggled gasoil.
Iran, which maintains low domestic fuel prices through subsidies and has seen its currency weaken sharply, regularly reports interceptions of vessels accused of moving fuel illegally by sea to its Persian Gulf neighbours and by land to neighboring countries.
The Gulf of Oman and the nearby Strait of Hormuz sit along a major route for global energy shipments, where Iranian forces and international shipping have faced repeated disruptions in recent years.
