TEHRAN -- An Iranian oil tanker, which was illegally seized by a foreign company five years ago, has been retaken in a joint operation by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.
Mojtaba Qahremani, head of the Justice Department of Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan, was cited by Tasnim news agency as saying on Friday that the 10,000-ton oil tanker Purity had returned to the country’s territorial waters following a judicial order and a joint operation carried out by the IRGC Navy and Intelligence Ministry.
“The seized 10,000-ton oil tanker Purity had been illegally leased to a foreigner by falsifying documents since 2018 and its Iranian owners were deprived of the benefits of the oil tanker,” Qahremani said.
The head of the Justice Department of Hormozgan Province added that it was discovered after through investigations by security organizations that the foreign company used the vessel for fuel trafficking.
Stressing that the prosecutor of the provincial capital Bandar Abbas ordered the seizure of the oil vessel last February, Qahremani said, “Following a judicial order and close cooperation between the IRGC Navy and Intelligence Ministry, the oil tanker was finally identified and confiscated in the Persian Gulf waters earlier this month.”
The vessel was reported to be at Iran’s Assaluyeh Port on the western-most coast of the Persian Gulf in order for its fuel consignments to be unloaded.
Forces from the first naval zone of the IRGC late in October seized a foreign tanker ship carrying 11 million liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf.
The Islamic Republic has vowed that the Persian Gulf would never be a safe place for smugglers. The IRGC’s Navy has also foiled several attacks on Iranian and foreign tankers alike.