Iranian forces regularly target tankers illegally transporting fuel in the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
“A vessel carrying 350,000 litres of smuggled fuel operating under the flag of Eswatini was seized and taken to Bushehr” in the south-west, state television said, quoting a local Revolutionary Guards commander.
“There are 13 crew members on board, all from a neighbouring country and India,” it added.
Earlier this month, the Revolutionary Guards — the ideological arm of the Islamic republic’s military — confirmed they had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf.
The company managing the ship later said Iran had released the tanker and its 21 crew members were safe.
The vessel with the name Talara was heading through the Strait of Hormuz when it suddenly changed course towards Iranian waters.
Its seized cargo included “Iranian petrochemical products… illegally transported towards Singapore”, the Iranian news agency Fars said, adding that “the main person responsible was an Iranian individual or company”.
Last year, the Revolutionary Guards seized a container ship, saying it had links to Israel, following a deadly attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria blamed on Israel.
However Fars said that Talara’s seizure was not taken as a measure against any other nation, but was a purely local matter.
