Deputy Commander of the IRGC’s third naval zone Admiral Mohammad Sharif Shirali said on Thursday that the two tankers, named Steven and Crown, with 37 crew members on board were sailing under the Panamanian and Tanzanian flags.
“Over the past two days, fighters from the IRGC’s third naval zone, stationed in the port of Mahshahr and the northern part of the Persian Gulf, seized the two vessels that were involved in organized smuggling of oil and gas from the Islamic Republic in the Persian Gulf.”
He added the seizure of the vessels took place “after careful monitoring and in compliance with a confiscation order issued by Iranian judicial authorities.”
Admiral Shirali said the crew and the tankers were handed over to judicial authorities at Mahshahr port city for legal proceedings.
The admiral asserted that the IRGC Navy forces vigilantly supervise all illegal moves by trans-regional commercial and military vessels and carry out their mission with full authority.
