The crew of an oil products tanker seized by Iran last week are safe and the vessel is now anchored off the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, its technical manager Columbia Shipmanagement said on Monday after Tehran confirmed the seizure.
Iran said on Saturday that its Revolutionary Guards had intercepted the M/V Talara, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, in Iranian territorial waters a day earlier over alleged cargo violations.
It was the first tanker seizure by Tehran since Israeli and US strikes on Iran in June, raising concerns about the safety of commercial shipping carrying energy supplies in the world's largest oil-exporting region.
Columbia Shipmanagement on Monday said the tanker's captain made contact with the company at 1730 GMT on November 16.
“All crew members are reported to be safe and accounted for. The vessel is now safely anchored off the coast of Bandar Abbas,” it said in a statement, adding that 21 seafarers were on board.
The company said contact was lost with the vessel on November 14 while it was transiting international waters via Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Singapore with a cargo of high sulphur gasoil.
“Columbia Shipmanagement is working with regional partners to urgently resolve the situation and secure the release of our crew,” the company said.
The company's statement came a day after US Central Command (CENTCOM) accused Iran of violating international law and urged Tehran to explain the legal basis for the seizure.
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 announced the seizure was part of what it describes as efforts to curb fuel smuggling. It has in the past often cited alleged smuggling, technical violations or other miscellaneous maritime offences for seizing vessels.
Mehdi Abbasi told the Didban-e Iran news site that “the issue is not who may have done this, but that all assumptions that could lead to harm must be identified.”
Without naming Israel, he said “Experience has shown that with the relevant civil-defence tests, it is possible to thoroughly examine such equipment. And since there is always a possibility that our information could be transmitted abroad, we must consider the most dangerous scenarios and prepare ourselves to confront them.”
He said foreign devices used in urban monitoring systems “must pass multiple security filters” and that Tehran should minimize reliance on imported technology.
Abbasi said authorities should prioritize domestic production of traffic-camera systems, adding, “In a world where countries are either competing or hostile, we must strengthen our internal capabilities first.”
He also said the municipality “should have exercised greater oversight” of the equipment and warned that any technology with internet connectivity must undergo cybersecurity testing by Iran’s civil-defense units.
Iranian officials have not released technical details of the alleged data breach, but the issue has resurfaced repeatedly among senior figures following the 12-day war with Israel.
In September, a senior lawmaker claimed that Israel learned the location of a June 16 meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council through the country’s urban surveillance network.
“All the city cameras at our intersections are in the hands of Israel,” said Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of parliament’s national security committee. “Everything on the internet is in their hands – meaning that if we move, they find out.”
Iranian media reported that the meeting – attended by the heads of the country’s three branches of power – was struck by six bombs or missiles, and that President Masoud Pezeshkian and several other officials suffered minor leg injuries while trying to escape.
The report said the groups adapted after tighter airport controls in Lebanon, the collapse of long-standing routes through Syria and the killing of senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operatives involved in logistics.
Ynet, citing the US Treasury Department, said Iran has transferred roughly $1 billion to Hezbollah since the start of the year, funding that Washington says is used to rebuild the group’s capabilities.
New smuggling channels have increasingly relied on Turkey and Iraq, as well as maritime shipments and cash-based businesses, according to Ynet.
Other methods described in the report include the use of gold transfers, cryptocurrency channels, and shipping components in parts for later assembly in Lebanon.
The report also said Hezbollah has sought to expand local production based on Iranian expertise, reducing dependence on vulnerable cross-border routes.
A US delegation visiting Beirut last week urged Lebanon's leadership to curb financing networks and strengthen oversight of money-exchange agencies.
Analysts quoted by Ynet said they expect Iran to continue supporting Hezbollah’s reconstruction to maintain its political influence within Lebanon’s Shi’ite community.
Brigadier General Ali-Mohammad Naeini, spokesman and deputy for public affairs of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told Mehr News in an extensive interview that the 12-day June conflict had reshaped regional deterrence and left Israel unable to escalate.
“The enemy does not have the conditions for a new war,” he said, adding that statements suggesting renewed confrontation were “psychological operations and cognitive warfare.”
Naeini said Iran had fully restored its command cycle within hours of the June strikes and delivered what he called a decisive response.
He said the outcome of the fighting – which Tehran describes as one of the shortest but most consequential confrontations in its recent history – showed “years of planning, drills and preparedness.”
He portrayed the conflict as a technologically complex hybrid war involving missiles, cyber operations and information battles, rather than a conventional territorial fight. Naeini said Iran’s leadership played a central role in shaping public confidence and maintaining domestic cohesion throughout the confrontation.
Naeini emphasized that Iran’s armed forces remain on high alert and continue to expand missile, drone and air-defense capabilities, but argued that Israel is constrained by its “limitations, vulnerabilities and the strategic balance created after the June war.”
While dismissing talk of renewed conflict, he warned that Iran would deliver a stronger response if attacked again.
“The armed forces are ready for a more complex war,” he said. “If the enemy commits another mistake, the response will be more forceful and more regret-inducing.”
