Iran seized a foreign oil tanker it accused of transporting “smuggled fuel” and detained 14 crew members on Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the unidentified vessel on Sunday morning, the outlet reported, and claimed it was carrying two million litres of smuggled diesel.
It was seized by court order 96km off the coast of Bandar-e-Bushehr. The crew on board “of Asian origin” were detained.
Tasnim said the ship was from Oceania, without providing any further detail.
It comes just weeks after the navy boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker once at the centre of a dispute between Washington and Tehran.
Iran seized the ship in retaliation for a “violation committed by the Suez Rajan ship … and the theft of Iranian oil by the United States”, the Irna news agency reported.
Global shipping has been disrupted amid attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have vowed to continue attacks on ships it says are headed for Israel amid the war in Gaza. They have also pledged to attack British and American ships in retaliation for air strikes on Houthi positions.
China has reportedly asked Tehran to help stop the group's attacks on commercial ships passing through the Red Sea, Reuters reported last week.
Companies are now offering double pay to crew amid the crisis, which has resulted in a 42 per cent drop in shipping traffic through the Suez Canal.
In August, ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz were warned against straying into Iranian waters due to the “high risk” of seizure.
Iranian attacks have prompted the US to strengthen its naval presence in the region, deploying its first drone boats in the Strait of Hormuz in April.
War in Gaza - in pictures
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Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
