Supposedly smugglers
Iran seizes oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman
Updated 12/12/2025 – 11:40 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Iran has again seized an oil tanker. Tehran claims the ship was smuggling oil.
Iranian security forces have seized a foreign tanker in the Gulf of Oman. State media in the Islamic Republic reported this on Friday. Accordingly, the tanker is said to have loaded six million liters of smuggled diesel fuel.
According to Iran, the ship turned off its tracking system, ignored stop orders and was not carrying any cargo or travel documents. The oil is currently being unloaded and legal action has been taken.
Iran has some of the world’s lowest fuel prices due to high subsidies and the fall in the value of its national currency. The country says it is fighting against fuel smuggling by land to neighboring countries and by sea to Arab Gulf states.
Iran has repeatedly seized oil tankers and other ships. In November 2025, Tehran confirmed the seizure of the tanker Talara in the Gulf of Oman, which was later released after some of its cargo was apparently dumped.
In April 2024, the container ship MSC Aries was detained. Iranian forces captured two Greek-flagged tankers (Delta Poseidon and Prudent Warrior) in the Persian Gulf in 2022, guided them into Iranian territorial waters and detained the crew and ships.
The move is intended to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
US special forces searched a ship en route from China to Iran in the Indian Ocean last month, according to a media report. Military goods were confiscated, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing several US government officials. The cargo included components that could be useful for conventional weapons, one of the government officials said. The armaments were destroyed. The ship was then allowed to continue its journey. The US forces boarded the ship several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka.
