Iran says it seized foreign oil tanker in Gulf for smuggling fuel

Iran said Sunday that it had seized a foreign oil tanker that it claimed was smuggling fuel to Arab states.

The tanker was intercepted Wednesday night by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's 2nd Marine Corps, according to Iranian news agency ISNA.

Iran's state media Press TV said the vessel had seven crew members and was carrying 700,000 liters of fuel, or about 4,500 barrels. If full, this amount would make it a relatively small tanker.

The nationalities of the ship and of the crew have not been revealed.

Ramadan Zirahi, commander of that naval unit, told ISNA that the vessel carrying the "seized smuggled fuel" was transferred to Bushehr and that the fuel was delivered to the National Oil Distribution Company of Bushehr in coordination with the judiciary.

Zirahi said the 2nd Marine Corps floating units were guarding the national interest and "will not hesitate for a moment."

Iran's seizure last month of two tankers -- one Panamanian-flagged and one British -- marked an escalation in the standoff between the Islamic Republic and Western powers after US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal last year.

Iran has released nine of the 12 Indian crew members who were on board the Panamanian-flagged tanker that it seized after claiming the vessel was carrying 1 million liters of smuggled fuel.

Iran has granted consular access to 18 Indian crew members of the seized British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero.

• Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz

• MAY 8, 2018

  • Trump announces he is pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran, adding he will initiate new sanctions. "Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States," Trump says.

• NOVEMBER 5, 2018

  • The United States officially reimposes all sanctions lifted under 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Rouhani vowed to continue oil exports, saying Iran will "proudly break the unjust sanctions."

• APRIL 8, 2019

  • Trump announces the United States will formally designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a move some in the administration had opposed over concerns about potential risks to US troops in the Middle East.

• JUNE 2019

  • According to US officials, the US launches two cyber attacks on Iran. One attack was a retaliatory cyberstrike against an Iranian spy group. The other attack was on an Iranian proxy group with forces in Iraq, Syria and inside Iran in the days after Iran shot down a US drone.

• JUNE 20, 2019

  • Iran shoots down a United States military drone. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims that the drone was shot down after it entered the country's territory, while the US claims the drone was shot down in international airspace.

• JUNE 24, 2019

  • Trump announces new sanctions against Iran in part to retaliate after the downing of a US drone the previous week, with the punitive measures set to target Iran's Supreme Leader, military officials and its top diplomat, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

• JULY 1, 2019

  • Zarif announces that Iran's stockpiles of enriched low-grade uranium have exceeded the 300-kilogram limit set in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

• JULY 4, 2019

  • The Iranian oil-carrying vessel Grace 1 is seized by British authorities near Gibralter. Gibraltar's territorial authorities had reason to believe the ship was "carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria" in violation of European Union sanctions, it said in a statement. Iran called the act "piracy."

• JULY 10, 2019

  • Armed Iranian boats try unsuccessfully to impede the passage of a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, according to two US officials with direct knowledge of the incident.

• JULY 14, 2019

  • Over the weekend, Iran seizes an oil tanker that it claimed was carrying 1 million liters of "smuggled fuel," according to state news agency Press TV.

• JULY 18, 2019

  • US officials say the US Navy has destroyed an Iranian drone using electronic jamming, in a defensive action after it came too close to naval ship USS Boxer took. However, Iranian officials deny that any of their drones have been downed.

• JULY 19, 2019

  • Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announces that its navy has captured the British-flagged oil tanker, Stena Impero. It accuses the British tanker of "violating international regulations."
  • A second tanker, the Liberian flagged MV Mesdar, was also seized, one US official tells CNN.
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News Courtesy: www.cnn.com