Iran state TV: Iranian forces seize foreign oil tanker, crew
Iran’s state TV says Revolutionary Guard forces have seized a foreign tanker with 12 crew accused of smuggling oil.
The seizure comes as tensions mount between the United States and Iran over the unraveling nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Thursday’s report says the tanker was smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers and was intercepted south of Iran’s Larak Island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The TV didn’t identify the tanker or say which country the crew were from.
An oil tanker based in the United Arab Emirates traveling through the Strait of Hormuz drifted off into Iranian waters and stopped transmitting its location over two days ago.
US officials have expressed suspicion that the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Riah had been seized in Iranian territorial waters.