Iran’s military has detained a tanker flying a foreign flag on suspicion of engaging in unlawful smuggling activities.
According to a statement from an Iranian source, the tanker was to be carrying 2. 9 million gallons of “smuggled petroleum” worth an estimated $6.6 million. The ship or flag it is flying under has not yet been identified by Tehran officials.
The yacht was in the Persian Gulf when the country’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) stormed it; and assumed control. Tehran has long lamented the ongoing smuggling of its oil and fuel to Gulf states and has attempted to put a stop to it.
Iran’s military is currently on a collision path with the US; due to its practice of halting foreign ships in the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway.