DUBAI, July 29. /TASS/. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (elite units of the armed forces) has detained the Togo-flagged tanker Pearl G with 700,000 liters of smuggled oil in the Persian Gulf on July 26, the Tasnim news agency reported, citing a military statement.

"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday morning, July 26, 2024, detained in the northern part of the Persian Gulf near the Arash oil field the tanker Pearl G under the flag of the African country Togo, belonging to an Iraqi who lives in the city of Dubai (United Arab Emirates). At that time smuggled fuel from an Iranian vessel was being reloaded onto the tanker," the news agency quoted a fragment of the statement. It is noted that, according to initial estimates, there were at least 700,000 liters of oil on board.

According to the news agency, the detention was carried out in accordance with the court decision. Together with nine crew members, who are citizens of India, the tanker was sent to the port of Imam Khomeini, located in the southwest of Iran in in Khuzestan Province.

Last week, the Iranian servicemen twice detained tankers traveling under the flag of Togo. On July 22, Heidar Honarian Mojarad, the commander of the IRGC Navy's second region, announced the detention in the Persian Gulf of a foreign vessel flying the flag of Togo, which he claimed was carrying 1.5 million liters of smuggled fuel.