TEHRAN – Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has seized a foreign tanker carrying millions of liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf, detaining its crew and transferring the vessel and its cargo to government ownership, Iranian officials said.

According to the IRGC’s news outlet, the tanker was intercepted on Wednesday inside Iran’s territorial waters while transporting around 4 million liters of smuggled fuel. The operation was carried out by naval units of the IRGC in the waters near Qeshm Island, a strategically important area in the southern province of Hormozgan.

Brigadier General Abbas Gholamshahi, commander of the IRGC’s First Naval Zone, said 16 crew members, all foreign nationals, were arrested during the seizure and later handed over to judicial authorities.

Two days after the operation, Hormozgan Province Chief Justice Mojtaba Ghahremani announced that the tanker and its fuel cargo—valued at nearly 7,000 billion rials (more than $5.2 million)—will be confiscated and transferred to state ownership.

Ghahremani said the move was carried out in accordance with directives issued by Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who has ordered firm action to curb fuel smuggling and prevent economic losses to the country.

“The oil tanker and its cargo will be taken over by the government,” Ghahremani said, adding that a legal case has been opened against the vessel for violations related to fuel smuggling. The case has been referred to the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Qeshm for further investigation.

Emphasizing the judiciary’s stance, Ghahremani described the fight against fuel smuggling as a key priority in protecting Iran’s economic security and development. He warned that smugglers would find no safe haven in the waters of the Persian Gulf or along Iran’s coasts and islands.

The seizure comes amid an intensified crackdown by the IRGC on fuel smuggling in southern waters, as authorities report a growing number of cases driven by the widening price gap between Iran’s heavily subsidized domestic fuel and higher prices in neighboring countries.

In a similar operation in late November, IRGC forces seized an Eswatini-flagged vessel carrying 350,000 liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf.