IRGC navy foils illegal smuggling operation in Persian Gulf
The Cradle, July 29, 2024 —
Harsh US and western sanctions on Iranian energy have resulted in a surge in illegal smuggling in recent years
The naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a foreign vessel smuggling over 700,000 thousand liters of Iranian oil last week, Tehran announced on 29 July.
The IRGC Navy’s 3rd Naval Zone announced on Monday that a Togo-flagged ship was seized in the Persian Gulf on 26 July, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The tanker was seized under a judicial order and taken to Imam Khomeini Port. Nine Indian crewmembers who were onboard the ship were detained.
The Pearl G vessel is owned by an Iraqi national residing in the UAE, according to the IRGC Navy.
“The tanker was loading smuggled fuel from Iranian vessels near the Arash [gas] field,” the statement read. The Arash gas field is the subject of a longstanding dispute between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
Iran has been stepping up its anti-fuel smuggling operations in the Persian Gulf over recent years.
In one incident in early July 2023, US forces interfered to prevent an Iranian naval force from capturing a vessel involved in smuggling – prompting Tehran to accuse Washington of protecting illegal smugglers in the Persian Gulf.
Harsh US sanctions on Iranian energy exacerbate fuel smuggling in the Persian Gulf. Additionally, Washington has illegally plundered several shipments of Iranian oil at sea over the years, while accusing Tehran of attempting to “hijack” foreign vessels.
In January this year, Iranian naval forces seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker near Oman’s coast. The tanker was the same one seized by the US in April 2023, in what was described by the Pentagon as “a sanctions-enforcement operation.”
As a result of illegal smuggling and Washington’s seizure of several Iranian oil shipments, Tehran called last year for the establishment of a maritime security belt with fellow member states of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).