Iranian authorities have seized a foreign vessel striving to smuggle fuel outside the country and detained the crew members, IRNA – the state news agency mentioned on Wednesday.
Iran, a country blessed with some of the most inexpensive fuel prices in the world — due to subsidies and a sudden plunge in the value of its national currency — has been fighting against rampant fuel smuggling to the neighbouring countries by land and to Gulf Arab states by sea.
Loaded with over 550,000 litres of smuggled fuel, the ship had been seized in the Gulf waters. The agency added that it was then escorted to harbour in the province of Hormozgan, where it was handed to the judicial authorities for investigation.
In recent months, several ships were detained by the Iranian authorities for smuggling fuel in the Gulf.
