Iran seizes tanker carrying smuggled fuel in Strait of Hormuz, official news agency says

Tehran, Iran — Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker as it passed through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state media said Friday.

Mojtaba Ghahramani, provincial head of the Justice Ministry, said the tanker was carrying some 4 million liters (25,000 barrels) of smuggled fuel when Revolutionary Guard naval forces seized the vessel, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ghahramani said forces also arrested 16 foreign members of the tanker’s crew, adding that the seizure was a notable “blow” for smugglers. He did not reveal the nationality of the crew or the flag of the tanker.

Iran occasionally seizes ships carrying oil over similar charges in the region. In November, Iran seized a ship as he passed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz for what he said were violations, including transporting an illegal shipment.

The West has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on ships that damaged oil tankers in 2019, as well as a drone attack on an Israeli-linked tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Those attacks began after President Trump, during his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran also seized the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship MSC Aries in April 2024.

Following years of tensions between Iran and the WestCoupled with the situation in the Gaza Strip, Iran experienced a 12-day full-scale war with Israel in June, whose strikes resulted in the deaths of top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iran’s retaliatory missile barrage killed 28 people in Israel.

Tehran has long threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all traded oil passes. The U.S. Navy has long patrolled the Middle East through its Bahrain-based 5th Fleet to keep waterways open.