Iran's Revolutionary Guards Seize Tanker

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has intercepted a Togo-flagged, UAE-managed products tanker carrying 1,500 tons of marine gas oil, the IRGC and British security firm Ambrey said on Monday.

The vessel had loaded marine gas oil off the coast of Iraq and was destined for UAE's Sharjah when it was intercepted on Sunday, 61 nautical miles southwest of Iran's port of Bushehr, Ambrey said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Navy confirmed seizure of the tanker in a statement quoted by Iran's state news agency, saying "the tanker was systematically engaged in fuel smuggling ... and was seized in the depths of Bushehr's coast by judicial order."

"The vessel, along with its 12 crew members of Indian and Sri Lankan nationality, has been transferred to Bushehr anchorage and is under supervision," the agency quoted the statement as saying.

Iran, which has some of the world's cheapest fuel prices due to subsidies and the plunge in the value of its currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.

Ambrey added that the incident is unlikely to be politically motivated and likely a counter-smuggling operation.

(Reuters - Reporting by Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah and Parisa Hafezi; editing by Jason Neely and Rod Nickel)