TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have seized a ship flying the flag of Eswatini and carrying “smuggled fuel”, state media reported Sunday.
Iranian forces regularly target tankers that Tehran accuses of illegally transporting fuel in the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
“A vessel carrying 350,000 litres of smuggled fuel operating under the flag of Eswatini was seized and taken to Bushehr” in the southwest, state television said, quoting a local Revolutionary Guards commander.
“There are 13 crew members on board, all from a neighbouring country and India,” it added, without naming the other country.
Eswatini’s government denied all knowledge and said there were currently no ships authorised to fly its flag.
“The Kingdom of Eswatini has no connection whatsoever to the vessel reported to be seized in Iran, and we reject in the strongest terms any attempts to associate our country with maritime criminality,” it said in a statement.
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