The Media Line: IRGC Navy Seizes Fuel-Smuggling Vessels Amid Tension With US Ahead of Talks and Strait of Hormuz Threats  

IRGC Navy Seizes Fuel-Smuggling Vessels Amid Tension With US Ahead of Talks and Strait of Hormuz Threats  

By The Media Line Staff  

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced Thursday that it had detained two ships near Farsi Island on suspicion of fuel smuggling, a move reported by the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA). Authorities said the vessels were carrying more than one million liters of fuel and that 15 foreign crew members had been handed over to judicial officials.   

ISNA said the ships were identified after months of monitoring what officials described as an organized smuggling operation. The interception, according to the report, followed intelligence tracking and naval surveillance carried out by the IRGC.    

The announcement came as tensions rose around the Strait of Hormuz and ahead of renewed diplomatic contacts between Tehran and Washington. Ezzatollah Zarghami, a former minister and former head of Iran’s state broadcasting organization, warned that the strategic waterway could become a site of severe confrontation with the United States.    

He wrote on X: “I am sure that the Strait of Hormuz will be the place of massacre and hell for the US … Iran will show that the Strait of Hormuz has historically belonged to Iran. The only thing the Americans can think of is playing with their vessels and moving them from one place to another.”   

Diplomatic efforts meanwhile appeared uncertain. Talks between the US and Iran were expected to resume on Friday in Oman after earlier indications that the discussions might be called off. According to Axios, two US officials said Middle Eastern leaders urgently appealed to the Trump administration not to abandon the negotiations when signs emerged that the meeting could be canceled.   

President Trump told NBC that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “should be very worried,” comments made amid the confusion surrounding the status of the talks. The reported disagreement centered on the scope of the discussions. Washington sought to address multiple issues, while Tehran insisted the agenda be limited strictly to the nuclear topic.