Published September 15,2023
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized two foreign-flagged oil tankers allegedly smuggling greater than 1.5 million liters of gas within the Persian Gulf.
The tankers with Panama and Tanzania flags had been held by IRGC Navy, Iranian media quoted Adm. Mohammad-Sharif Shirali, deputy commander of the IRGC Navy’s Third Naval Zone, as saying.
He mentioned the 37-member crew on board the 2 vessels had been handed to judicial authorities for crucial authorized procedures.
The official, offering particulars of the operation, mentioned the IRGC Navy stationed in Mahshahr Port in southern Khuzestan province had for the previous two days intently monitored the 2 overseas oil rankers and ultimately seized them on judicial orders.
Iranian naval forces have on a number of events lately seized foreign-flagged vessels within the Persian Gulf for alleged smuggling of gas or violation of maritime guidelines.
In July, a Bahamas-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager was seized after it allegedly bumped into an Iranian vessel within the Sea of Oman in southern Hormozgan province.
After the incident, the US Navy issued an announcement saying it despatched a guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul in response to a misery name from the Bahamas-flagged tanker after Iranian authorities requested the tanker to cease and fired pictures at it.
The incident got here lower than two months after IRGC seized a Panama-flagged tanker within the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a “violator.”
Before that, a Marshal Island-flagged tanker was held by the Iranian military and directed to the coastal waters of Iran within the Sea of Oman, following an encounter with an Iranian vessel.
Pertinently, these incidents come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US after the Pentagon introduced the deployment of amphibious warships and a Marine expeditionary group to the Persian Gulf to safe its transport lanes.
Last month, amid tensions, the IRGC Navy launched footage of an encounter between its speedboats and a US helicopter service within the Strait of Hormuz.
It got here precisely a 12 months after the IRGC towed away an unmanned US vessel within the Persian Gulf, saying it was accomplished to “ensure the safety of shipping lanes.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr
