Iranian state media reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized on Monday two foreign tankers, allegedly carrying diesel fuel worth over 3 million litres (792 516 US gallons).

State media reported that "these two tankers with 25 crewmembers were involved in organised fuel smuggling on the central waters in the Persian Gulf, and collectively carried over 3,000,000 litres smuggled Diesel fuel."

The report did not mention the nationality of the tanker or whether its crew was detained.

According to state media, the tankers will be transferred to Bushehr port in Iran.

Mehdi Mehrangiz is a senior official in the judiciary at Bushehr Province. He said that the ships had been seized by a court order, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Iran has fought fuel smuggling on land and at sea, to Gulf Arab countries, despite having some of the lowest fuel prices in the world due to its heavy subsidies and the collapse of its currency. (Reporting and editing by Tomasz Janovski and Leslie Adler.)

(source: Reuters)