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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Latest on developments related to tensions between U.S and Iran (all times local):
8:30 p.m.
Iran's state TV English-language channel has released video of a ship seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces accused of smuggling fuel out of the country.
The Press TV report showed the ship's registration number on its bridge, matching that of the MT Riah, a UAE-based vessel that turned off its location tracker as it entered Iranian territorial waters early Sunday.
Iranian state media earlier Thursday said a tanker was seized with a crew of 12 aboard for smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers and was intercepted south of Iran's Larak Island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. It did not name the vessel or identify the nationalities of the crew onboard.
A U.S. official had expressed suspicion that the Panamanian-flagged Riah had been seized in Iranian territorial waters.
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2:55 p.m.
Iran's state TV says Revolutionary Guard forces have seized a foreign tanker with 12 crew accused of smuggling oil.
The seizure comes as tensions mount between the United States and Iran over the unravelling nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Thursday's report says the tanker was smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers and was intercepted south of Iran's Larak Island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The TV didn't identify the tanker or say which country the crew were from.
An oil tanker based in the United Arab Emirates traveling through the Strait of Hormuz drifted off into Iranian waters and stopped transmitting its location over two days ago.
U.S. officials have expressed suspicion that the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Riah had been seized in Iranian territorial waters.
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