DUBAI: Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had seized a vessel in Gulf waters loaded with 250,000 litres of smuggled fuel, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

Iran, which has some of the world’s cheapest fuel prices due to heavy state subsidies and the fall of its currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring states and by sea to Gulf Arab states. It has frequently seized boats it says are being used for smuggling oil in the Gulf.

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The ship's seven crew have been detained, IRNA said, citing a Guards spokesman, Gholamhossein Hosseini. A Guards official told state TV that the crew consisted of Iranians and foreigners, without giving details.

Last week the Guards seized a foreign vessel carrying 220,000 litres of smuggled fuel in the Gulf and detained its crew of 11, Iranian media reported.