Tehran (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – According to an Iranian news agency, the chief justice of Hormozgan province, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, stated that Iranian authorities have apprehended a foreign tanker in the Gulf of Oman loaded with 2 million litres of fuel for the purposes of smuggling.
“During the continuous process of monitoring and surveilling suspicious fuel smuggling movements in the Gulf of Oman, officers inspected a foreign tanker due to its lack of legal documents regarding its cargo and seized it on charges of carrying 2 million litres of smuggled fuel,”
Hormozgan’s Chief Justice Mojtaba Ghahremani stated, according to the report.
What charges are the detained crew members facing?
The official stated that 17 staff members were arrested and a complaint has been lodged with the Jask county prosecutor’s office. The officials are still collecting evidence, verifying documents, testing the fuel and verifying the volume of the cargo, he said. The judiciary has said it will publish the results of the investigation once the investigation has concluded.
“The actions of fuel smugglers, who in coordination with foreigners, attempt to plunder national wealth, will not remain hidden from the judiciary, and punishment of perpetrators, if their crimes are proven, will be without leniency,”
Ghahremani said, according to the report.
Why is the Gulf of Oman strategically important?
The Gulf of Oman is strategically important as it connects the Arabian Sea to the Strait of Hormuz, which connects directly to the Persian Gulf, and therefore security of this area is a combined interest of oil producers, oil importers and the international community because the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz is essential to the core of global oil trade and maritime transport.
With numerous critical naval bases established by Iran in the Gulf of Oman, including the strategic port city of Jask, adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, the wider region can evolve into a theatre of national competitions for control of seaways. This makes it particularly concerning since naval assets can be deployed very rapidly in the Gulf of Oman as well as the Strait of Hormuz.
How is Iran taking action against ship bunkering fuel smuggling?
Iran has intensified its maritime enforcement action, including in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf. However, despite Iranian maritime enforcement, smuggling of petroleum fuel in the region remains a real threat. Following its customary practice, the IRGC always publicizes such seizures while representing efforts to deter fuel trafficking across this critical point for the world’s oil shipment, a transit route. There has been a history of Iran seizing tankers due to maritime disputes and/or for the purpose of enforcing international sanctions.
Additionally, in April, the Iranian naval force also announced that it had seized a tanker with 100,000 litres of fuel smuggled and arrested six people, according to the Fars News Agency. This came after a different operation where two tankers suspected of carrying over 3 million litres of diesel were intercepted and brought to the port of Bushehr.
