Iran is going to auction two oil tankers which it seized for their involvement in oil smuggling, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported on Tuesday. “Two oil tankers, Sagha 2 and Ariana… will be sold in the auction,” a judiciary official was quoted as saying.
Reuters added that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the Panama-flagged Ariana in October 2022 as it was carrying 11 million litres of smuggled fuel in the Gulf, according to Iran’s state media. The oil was transferred to the National Iranian Oil Company by judicial order.
Mizan news agency did not give further details about the Sagha 2 tanker.
Iran, which has some of the world’s cheapest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the plunge in the value of its national currency, has been fighting against rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.
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