Iran Says It Seized an Oil Tanker in Sea of Oman

By Kamaran Aziz

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Iranian authorities have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Sea of Oman and detained its 17 crew members on charges of smuggling two million liters of fuel, a senior judicial official announced Wednesday, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.

The Chief Justice of Hormozgan Province, Mojtaba Ghahremani, announced the seizure but did not immediately disclose further details, including the vessel’s nationality or its intended destination, the state-affiliated news agency reported.

Ghahremani stated that the action was taken "following continued monitoring of suspicious fuel smuggling activities along Iran’s maritime borders in the Sea of Oman," Mehr News Agency reported. He added that enforcement agents inspected the foreign vessel and seized it "on suspicion of carrying smuggled fuel" due to what he described as incomplete legal documentation for its cargo.

As a result of the seizure, Mehr reported that a legal case has been opened in the town of Jask, and a judicial investigation is now underway.

"Seventeen individuals, including the tanker's captain and crew, have been detained as part of the legal proceedings," Ghahremani was quoted as saying by the news agency.

He further noted that authorities are in the process of collecting evidence to confirm the exact volume of the fuel, which involves conducting sampling and laboratory tests, as well as verifying the vessel's official documentation. The judicial authority will announce the final outcome of the case once the investigation is complete, the report concluded.

This incident is the latest in a series of vessel seizures conducted by Iranian authorities in the strategic waterways of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, a region critical to global energy supplies. These seizures often involve two types of incidents: the interception of smaller vessels accused of smuggling heavily subsidized Iranian fuel, and the capture of larger, foreign-flagged tankers, which international observers often link to geopolitical tensions.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been involved in numerous high-profile seizures in and around the vital Strait of Hormuz. These actions are sometimes described by Tehran as enforcement against maritime violations but are viewed by the U.S. and its allies as attempts to assert control or as retaliation for sanctions and other measures taken against Iran.

For instance, in January 2024, Iran seized a tanker carrying Iraqi crude bound for Turkey in what it said was retaliation for the U.S. confiscation of the same vessel and its cargo last year, Iranian state media reported. The Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas was intercepted by Iran’s navy under a judicial order and is being escorted to Iranian ports, according to a statement cited by the semi-official Fars news agency. The seizure came amid ongoing attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militias.

Tehran explicitly stated back then that seizure was an act of retaliation.

Similarly, international media, including the Associated Press, have reported on past incidents where Iran seized vessels in what appeared to be tit-for-tat responses to actions taken against Iranian tankers by the United States or its allies. These events consistently raise concerns about maritime security and freedom of navigation in one of the world's most important naval chokepoints.