The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has seized two foreign-flagged ships smuggling Iranian fuel supplies in the Persian Gulf.

The semi-official Fars news agency said in a Monday report that the IRGC Navy had confiscated the two ships, identified as Star 1 and Vintage, earlier in the day in the middle parts of the Persian Gulf waterway.

The report described the ships as the “ringleaders of the fuel smuggling network” in the region, saying they were carrying some 3 million liters of diesel fuel when they were confiscated.

It said the ships had 25 crews but did not elaborate on their nationalities.

The IRGC Navy was escorting the two ships to the wharf in Iran’s southwestern port of Bushehr where they would unload their fuel cargoes upon orders issued by judicial authorities in the port, the report said. 

Iran has seen a rise in confiscation of ships smuggling fuels in recent years amid ultra-cheap prices of gasoline and diesel in the country that have encouraged smugglers to carry shipments to Arab states in the Persian Gulf.

The price of diesel fuel in Iran is only 3,000 rials ($0.003) per liter for limited monthly quotas while the fuel is available at 6,000 rials per liter for unlimited usage by truck drivers and farmers using heavy machinery.

Reports have shown that large volumes of gas oil, a type of diesel fuel with less additives, that is normally supplied to Iranian power plants have also been smuggled to neighboring countries in recent months.

Senior Iranian government authorities said in December that some 25-30 million liters of fuel are being smuggled from the country every day.

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