Iranian officials said they are continuing the crackdown on smuggling of oil from Iran. They blame profiteers for driving the trade taking advantage of Iran’s low oil prices.
The product tanker Pearl G (2,000 dwt) was loading near the Arash oil field with Iranian barges reportedly shuttling fuel to the vessel. The tanker built in 1994 operated until 2023 for the South Koreans but has changed identifies twice in the past year. The Iranians are reporting the vessel which is registered in Togo and managed from Dubai is owned by an Iraqi living in Dubai.
AIS signals show the vessel shuttling back and forth in the Persian Gulf region and as of late July at the UAE’s Sharjah anchorage. The vessel is 236 feet (72 meters) and has a crew of nine aboard.
Iranian media is citing reports from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that said on Friday, July 26, its forces boarded the vessel. They claimed to be acting under a judicial order and found the vessel to be loading from the barges. They asserted the vessel was preparing to depart with 700,000 barrels of smuggled oil.
After inspecting the vessel and detaining the crew, Iran ordered the vessel into the Khomeini port for further investigation.
#IRGC Navy confiscated a Togo-flagged tanker carrying more than 700,000 liters of smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf waters.
— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) July 29, 2024
9 crew members of the tanker have also been arrested. pic.twitter.com/ccU4ScTAbp
Iranian officials said they have launched increased anti-smuggling operations alleging that smuggling has increased in recent months. Last year, Iran’s Nour News Agency alleged that smugglers each day were stealing as much as 20 million liters of oil robbing the country. Iran subsidies oil prices and with the collapse in its currency, oil prices are extremely low,
This is the third seizure of a tanker for smuggling that Iran has reported this year. Just over a week ago, Iran targeted an older tanker with a bit of a shadowy profile. The Betelgeuse (1,767 dwt) is also being reported as registered in Togo although its ownership and management are unclear. Reports said it had as much as 1.5 million liters of Marine Gas Oil aboard and was also directed into Iran. The vessel has 12 crew with media in Sri Lanka saying several are from its country.
Iran released a report in January on the seizure of another small tanker. A picture on Iranian state media appears to show the name Lavender on the ship, but additional details remained unclear.
These seizures are separate from the politically motivated seizures of large oil tankers. Iran is currently holding several Western tankers and their crews. Last week, Reuters reported that Iran had released the roughly one million barrel crude cargo on the tanker St Nikolas that was seized in January 2024. The vessel was the same one the U.S. had seized known as the Suez Rajan and offloaded in 2023. The tanker remains in Iran.
