IRGC Seizes Oil Tanker Over Alleged Fuel Smuggling

An oil tanker seized by Iran. Photo: IRNA news agency
An oil tanker seized by Iran. Photo: IRNA news agency
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IRGC Seizes Oil Tanker Over Alleged Fuel Smuggling

An oil tanker seized by Iran. Photo: IRNA news agency
An oil tanker seized by Iran. Photo: IRNA news agency

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it has seized a Togo-flagged oil tanker carrying more than 700,000 liters of fuel in the Gulf, the second such seizure in less than a week.

In a statement, the IRGC said the Togo-flagged “Pearl G” tanker with its nine crew members, who have Indian nationality, was seized by the forces of its Navy's third region on Friday morning following a judicial order.

“Pearl G, which is owned by an Iraqi national residing in the UAE, was offloading smuggled oil from Iranian vessels,” Tasnim reported, adding the vessel had been moved to the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini.

Last week, the IRGC seized another Togo-flagged tanker carrying 1,500 tons of marine gas oil.

British security firm Ambrey said last Monday the vessel had loaded marine gas oil off the coast of Iraq and was destined for UAE's Sharjah when it was intercepted on Sunday, 61 nautical miles southwest of Iran's port of Bushehr.

The Navy confirmed seizure in a statement quoted by Iran's state news agency, saying: “The tanker was systematically engaged in fuel smuggling ... and was seized in the depths of Bushehr's coast by judicial order.”

“The vessel, along with its 12 crew members of Indian and Sri Lankan nationals, has been transferred to Bushehr anchorage and is under supervision,” it added.

Iran, which has some of the world's cheapest fuel due to subsidies and the plunge in the value of its currency, has been fighting rampant smuggling by land to neighboring countries and by sea to other states.

Ambrey said the incident had no political motives but was likely a counter-smuggling operation.

In late January, Iran seized a vessel with the flag of a country from Oceania carrying two million liters of allegedly smuggled fuel.
In May, Iran released seven crew members from a Portuguese-flagged container ship, seized on April 13, after accusing them of links to its arch-foe Israel.
Fuel prices in Iran are among the lowest globally, increasing the profitability of smuggling operations.

But experts previously said that Iran's circumvention of oil sanctions is among the main reasons for the worsening phenomenon of fuel smuggling.

Iran’s Nour News Agency said last December that fuel smuggling was estimated at 20 million liters per day, equivalent to $5 billion.



Putin Vows to Further Develop Ties with Xi Just Hours After Trump Inauguration 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a videocall with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on January 21, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a videocall with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on January 21, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP)
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Putin Vows to Further Develop Ties with Xi Just Hours After Trump Inauguration 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a videocall with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on January 21, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a videocall with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on January 21, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday in which he proposed further developing their strategic partnership just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th US president.

Putin waved at Xi and addressed Chairman Xi as his "dear friend", saying he wanted to outline "new plans for the development of the Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation."

The Kremlin released a video of their meeting.

"I agree with you that cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is based on a broad commonality of national interests and a convergence of views on what relations between major powers should be," Putin told Xi.

"We build our ties on the basis of friendship, mutual trust and support, equality and mutual benefit. These connections are self-sufficient, independent of domestic political factors and the current global situation."

Russia, waging war against NATO-supplied Ukrainian forces, and China, under pressure from a concerted US effort to counter its growing military and economic strength, have increasingly found common geopolitical cause.

Putin and Xi, who have pushed back against the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China, have sought to portray the West as decadent and in decline.

The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat. Former US President Joe Biden has said the world's democracies face a challenge from "autocracies" such as China and Russia.