TEHRAN: Naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have seized a ship “carrying smuggled fuel” in the Gulf and arrested four crew members, local media reported Saturday.

“More than 50,000 litres (13,000 gallons) of smuggled fuel were discovered” on board on the ship, Fars news agency quoted the chief justice of the coastal Hormozgan province, Mojtaba Ghahramani, as saying.

He said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps navy had “confiscated” the ship and “arrested four people” during the operation. Neither the origin of the ship nor the date of the operation were immediately disclosed.

Ghahramani said the fuel would be redirected to the country’s “legal distribution network”. The United States military has in recent weeks beefed up its presence in the Gulf after accusing Iran of seizing or attempting to take ships in the vital waterway.

On July 6, the US Navy said the Guards seized a commercial vessel in the Gulf, a day after it accused Iranian forces of two similar attempts off the coast of Oman.