Iran seizes foreign oil tanker smuggling fuel in Gulf

Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized a foreign oil tanker in the Gulf that was smuggling fuel and detained seven crewmen. The vessel was intercepted near Iran's Farsi Island in the Gulf. It was carrying 700,000 liters of fuel.

A handout video grab made available from Iranian state television's English-language service Press TV Source: EPA/PRESS TV HANDOUT

Iraq's oil ministry says it has no connection with an oil tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf for smuggling fuel, Iraqi News Agency reports. "The ministry does not export diesel to the international market," the ministry

said in a statement on Sunday.

The tanker seized by Iran's elite forces in the Gulf for allegedly smuggling fuel was an Iraqi ship, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported earlier. The vessel was intercepted near Iran's Farsi Island in the Gulf, Iran's semi-

official Fars news agency said, and seven crewmen were detained.

The elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has a navy base on Farsi island which is located north of the Strait of Hormuz.

Fars and Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV station reported that the tanker was seized on

Wednesday.