Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, said on Thursday it seized two vessels in the Persian Gulf that were allegedly carrying smuggled fuel.
Later that day, a former Iranian official threatened to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a “place of massacre and hell” if there is a conflict with the United States.
The Tasnim news agency, a state-run media outlet linked to the IRGC, reported the capture of two tankers near Farsi Island, a small land mass in the Persian Gulf that hosts an IRGC naval base. The report did not specify which national flags were flown by the tankers, or the nationalities of the captive crew members.
The IRGC claimed later on Thursday that the ships were smuggling one million liters of illegal fuel, and said 15 foreign crew members had been transferred to the custody of the Iranian judiciary.
The IRGC claimed the ships were part of a smuggling network that had been monitored by Iranian intelligence for several months.
An infographic titled “Iran seizes two tankers in the Persian Gulf” on February 5, 2026. Over one million liters of smuggled fuel were found aboard the seized vessels, authorities said. (Photo by Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, IRGC forces used small boats and a drone to harass a U.S.-flagged and crewed merchant ship named MV Stena Imperative that was conducting a lawful transit through international waters. The U.S. guided missile destroyer USS McFaul drove the IRGC away and escorted the ship safely away.
On the same day, an Iranian drone made an aggressive approach to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which launched an F-35C fighter to destroy the drone.
Later on Thursday, the former chief of Iran’s state broadcasting organization and a former minister in the theocratic regime, Ezzatollah Zarghami, threatened more attacks in the Persian Gulf if a conflict breaks out with the United States.
“I am sure that the Strait of Hormuz will be the place of massacre and hell for the U.S.,” he said.
“Iran will show that the Strait of Hormuz has historically belonged to Iran. The only thing the Americans can think of is playing with their vessels and moving them from one place to another,” he said.
After some last-minute demands threatened to derail negotiations with the United States, a planned meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff was held in Oman on Friday.
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