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Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had detained a "foreign tanker" and its crew for allegedly smuggling fuel, the latest incident in a tense standoff in the Gulf.
The announcement came after Tehran said it had come to the aid of a foreign tanker after receiving a distress call -- making no mention of the vessel being seized.
"With a capacity of two million barrels and 12 foreign crew on board, the vessel was en route to deliver contraband fuel received from Iranian boats to foreign ships in farther regions when it was intercepted," the force's Sepahnews website said.
The Guards' statement came after officials said Iran had come to the rescue of an ailing tanker on Sunday.
"Iranian forces approached it and using a tugboat brought it into Iranian waters for necessary repairs," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
It said the tanker's automatic identification system had then stopped sending signals.
The incident is the latest of a series of events that have raised fears of a regional conflict involving the US and its Gulf allies.
US President Donald Trump ordered air strikes against Iran in June after Tehran downed an American drone, but called them off at the last minute.
US Central Command chief Kenneth McKenzie pledged Thursday to work "aggressively" to ensure freedom of navigation in the highly sensitive Gulf waters, a conduit for much of the world's crude oil.
"We are going to work very aggressively with our partners... to come to a solution that will enable the free passage of critical oil and other commodities... through the region," McKenzie told reporters at an air base in Saudi Arabia, a key US ally.
The tensions come after Trump last year withdrew from a multinational deal under which Iran drastically scaled back its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from sanctions.
The United States said last week it was discussing military escorts for vessels in the Gulf after Britain claimed Iranian boats threatened one of its tankers.
London said three Iranian vessels had attempted to "impede the passage" of a British oil tanker in Gulf waters, forcing its warship HMS Montrose to intervene.
British Royal Marines helped the Gibraltar authorities detain the vessel, which US officials believe was trying to deliver oil to Syria in violation of separate sets of EU and US sanctions -- a claim denied by Iran.
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