Iran seizes foreign vessel carrying smuggled fuel

Speaking to Mehr News Agency, Brigadier General Hojat Sefidpoost, Commander of the Khuzestan Border Guard, said that as part of efforts to combat the smuggling of national assets, border guard forces carried out one of the most significant operations against fuel smuggling in the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He stated that naval patrol units in Abadan, acting on precise intelligence and timely operational measures, identified and seized a foreign vessel that had illegally entered Iran’s territorial waters.

According to Brigadier General Sefidpoost, the seized vessel was the central hub of an organized fuel smuggling network. During inspections, border guards discovered 363,000 liters of smuggled fuel onboard.

He emphasized that the sheer volume of the seized fuel and the organized method of its transportation have placed this case among the most prominent fuel smuggling cases in recent years, noting that seizures of this scale are rare.

The commander added that during the complex and carefully executed operation, 11 key individuals involved in the smuggling network were arrested. Following the completion of legal procedures, the suspects were handed over to judicial authorities.

Brigadier General Sefidpoost concluded by noting that the shipment was being transported with the intention of being taken out of Iran’s territorial waters, stressing that firm, intelligent, and uncompromising action against large-scale fuel smugglers—particularly in maritime and sensitive coastal areas—remains a priority. Any action against national interests, he said, will be met with a strong and deterrent response from Iran’s border guards./mehr