UK-based security consultancy Ambrey has confirmed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intercepted and detained a foreign-flagged commercial tanker transiting the northern Persian Gulf on Sunday, July 21.
The target of the seizure by the Iranian paramilitary force is the Togo-flagged, UAE-managed product tanker Betelgeuse. The ship was carrying a cargo of MGO totalling 1,500 tonnes between Khor al Zubair in Iraq and the UAE port of Sharjah when it was boarded by armed IRGC personnel approximately 61 nautical miles southwest of the Iranian port of Bushehr.
Ambrey remarked it is unlikely that the seizure was politically driven. The IRGC meanwhile declared via Iranian state media that the tanker was seized in compliance with a court order after it was confirmed to be "systematically engaged in fuel smuggling."
Betelgeuse's crew at the time of the seizure included 12 Indian and Sri Lankan nationals. The ship has since arrived in Bushehr and is under Iranian government supervision while the crew have been detained.
Marshall Islands-based Madrigal Marine, the owner of Betelgeuse, said that one of the crew has made contact and claimed that they were ordered by the IRGC boarding party to shut off the ship's AIS prior to sailing towards Bushehr.
