Iran's Guards confirm seizure of Marshall Islands-flagged tanker

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Saturday it had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker off the coast of Makran, confirming earlier reports from maritime security firms and ship-tracking agencies.

“Our rapid-reaction units tracked and seized the vessel following a judicial order to confiscate its cargo,” the IRGC Navy said.

The IRGC-affiliated Fars news said, citing its own sources, that the ship was carrying about 30,000 tons of petrochemical products owned by Iran that were being transferred illegally to Singapore.

Fars added that, according to its account, the tanker was sailing under a Marshall Islands flag and that the offenders were Iranian individuals or companies accused of trying to export the cargo unlawfully.

The ship, the IRGC said, was intercepted and directed to an Iranian anchorage “for investigation into violations,” adding that a full inspection of the cargo and documentation found the vessel “to be in breach for transporting unauthorized goods.”

The operation, the statement added, was conducted “under legal authority and to protect national interests,” with further details dependent on a complete review of the ship’s records.

Maritime sources earlier reported IRGC involvement

Reuters reported on Friday that the tanker had been seized in the Gulf of Oman and steered toward Iranian waters after passing the Strait of Hormuz, citing maritime security sources. Two sources told the agency the vessel changed course toward Iran’s coast after small boats approached it off the UAE port of Khor Fakkan, and that units linked to the Guards were involved.

Columbia Shipmanagement, the operator of Talara, said it lost contact with the vessel as it sailed from Sharjah to Singapore with a load of high-sulphur gasoil. The tanker is owned by Cyprus-based Pasha Finance.

The ship is owned by Cyprus-based Pasha Finance.

Ambrey, a maritime risk firm, said the tanker was about 22 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan when three small boats approached before it veered off its course in the Gulf of Oman, calling the event “likely highly targeted.”

Broader tensions over past seizures

Iran has continued to pursue legal action related to earlier maritime incidents. In late October, judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said prosecutors had issued an indictment in the case of a container ship seized by the Revolutionary Guards last year in the Strait of Hormuz.

The ship’s Israeli-born owner, he said, was charged with financing terrorism, alleging transfers worth about 1.07 million dollars. According to the judiciary, the money supported Israeli military activities and the case was handled by Tehran’s international affairs prosecution office “in line with international and domestic law.”

The vessel, the MSC Aries, was flying a Portuguese flag when it was intercepted in April 2024. Reuters reported at the time that it was operated by Swiss-based MSC and leased from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Israel’s Zodiac Maritime, partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.

Iran has stepped up maritime enforcement in recent months, especially in waters near the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, where fuel smuggling remains a persistent issue due to price differences with neighboring countries.

The IRGC regularly announces such seizures as part of what it calls efforts to curb fuel trafficking in the region, a key route for global oil shipments. Iran has also seized tankers over maritime disputes or in response to international sanctions enforcement.

Iran edges toward urban water collapse

Nov 14, 2025, 22:39 GMT

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Negar Mojtahedi

Tehran and other major cities are edging toward water poverty, Dr. Kaveh Madani told Eye for Iran, with millions at risk of relying for their water on tankers trucks as taps begin to run dry.

Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and former deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment, told Eye for Iran that the country is not going through a normal drought but what he calls water bankruptcy.

This is a condition in which consumption exceeds supply and the reserves built over generations have already been drained.

“We have never seen such a thing,” Madani said. “The people of Tehran, the city that is the richest, most populous and strongest politically, is running out of water, is facing day zero.”

Satellite images and field data show alarming patterns nationwide. Tehran’s five main reservoirs are at some of their lowest recorded levels. Mashhad’s major dams have fallen below 3 percent capacity.

In many regions groundwater has sunk so deep that recovery is unlikely in this generation. The Ministry of Energy has already prepared rationing plans. Some neighborhoods have reported nighttime cuts. Officials have urged households to purchase storage tanks.

But experts stress that households are only a small part of the equation. More than 70 percent of Iran’s 90 million people live in large cities with no mid-size urban centers to absorb population shifts.

Ninety percent of all water use still goes to agriculture, a sector governments have protected for decades under a policy of food self-sufficiency. That choice has prevented water from being redirected toward cities even as the climate has grown hotter and drier.

For decades the state masked scarcity by expanding supply: building dams, drilling deeper wells and pumping water across basins from distant aquifers.

These measures created the illusion that dry regions, including the Tehran plain, could continue to grow. Over time that perception encouraged development and migration beyond what the land could sustain.

Aquifers drained, river exhaustion

With reserves depleted, Iran’s cities have very little left to fall back on.

Madani warns that if winter rains fail life in major cities could shift abruptly. “It means pumps and stores, delivery through tankers, more bottled water instead of tap water, a change of lifestyle.”

At the same time he cautions against mistaking brief rainfall or even seasonal floods for real recovery.

One storm could momentarily refill canals or ease pressure on local networks. But the underlying deficits, from drained aquifers to collapsing river systems, remain unchanged. “These days are real,” Madani said. “And even if in a few months there are floods, we shouldn’t conclude the problem has been resolved forever.”

Years of sanctions and a so-called resistance economy have pushed the state to extract whatever natural resources remain. Environmental reform is costly and slow with benefits that may not appear for a decade.

Asking citizens to cut consumption requires public trust, something the government lacks. Without transparent information about what reserves remain and clear communication about the severity of the crisis, cooperation will remain limited.

There is still a narrow window, Madani says. A few hours of concentrated rainfall could buy cities days. Collective reductions in consumption could buy weeks. But the structural imbalance, too many people and too little water, is now a national reality.

“This is a national security issue,” he said. “It affects every Iranian, no matter who is in charge.”

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