TEHRAN – Iran’s security forces have dismantled one of the largest fuel smuggling networks operating in the country’s north, seizing around two million liters of diesel and arresting those involved in the illicit trade.

According to the Public Relations Office of the IRGC’s Mazandaran Province, intelligence units of the IRGC Karbala Organization identified and dismantled the massive network following extensive intelligence and technical operations.

The smuggling ring reportedly included provincial and national-level fuel traffickers, fuel station employees, transport contractors, fuel distributors, and truck drivers engaged in illegally diverting and selling subsidized fuel. The coordinated operation was carried out in close cooperation with the judiciary, leading to the disruption of the group’s operations.

Iran continues to grapple with widespread fuel smuggling, both overland and through maritime routes, a problem fueled by the country’s heavily subsidized fuel prices—among the lowest in the world. The sharp price gap between Iran and neighboring countries has long encouraged large-scale illegal fuel transfers.

In response, Iranian authorities, in coordination with the IRGC Navy, the Army, and law enforcement agencies, have intensified efforts to intercept smugglers by land and sea. Official figures indicate that an estimated 25 to 30 million liters of fuel products, including gasoline and diesel, are smuggled out of Iran every day.