Mojtaba Ghahremani made the announcement on Friday, two days after Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the foreign ship carrying about 4 million liters of smuggled fuel near Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf.

He said the measure came in line with the directives of Iran’s Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Eje on preventing fuel smuggling and taking action against it, Press TV reported.

“The oil tanker and its cargo, worth nearly 7,000 billion riyals (over $5,200,000), will be taken over by the government,” he added.

Ghahremani also noted that IRGC forces arrested 16 foreign crew members on board the tanker and handed them over to judicial officials.

A case concerning the violations of the vessel has been filed with Qeshm’s Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, he said.

Meanwhile, Hormozgan’s chief justice emphasized that Iran’s Judiciary considers the fight against fuel smuggling a key priority in safeguarding economic development and prosperity.

Vowing relentless fight against fuel smuggling, he further warned that the waters of the Persian Gulf, along with Iran’s coasts and islands, will never be safe for smugglers.

The IRGC has mounted its crackdown on fuel smuggling in the Persian Gulf amid a rise in such cases, which experts attribute to the growing gap between Iran’s low domestic fuel prices and higher rates in neighboring countries.

In late November, the force seized an Eswatini-flagged vessel carrying 350,000 liters of smuggled fuel.

MNA