TEHRAN - Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) seized a foreign oil tanker carrying more than 700,000 liters of smuggled fuel north of the Persian Gulf, the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News reported on Monday.

The Togo-flagged "Pearl G" tanker, owned by an Iraqi person residing in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, was seized by the forces of the IRGC Navy's third region on Friday morning following a judicial order, said the report.

It added the oil tanker was loading smuggled fuel from Iranian vessels near the Arash oilfield when it was confiscated.

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The oil tanker and its nine crew members, who have Indian nationality, have been transferred to Imam Khomeini Port in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan and are under supervision.

Due to government subsidies on fuel prices in Iran, smuggling fuel out of the country is a lucrative racket. Over the past few years, Iranian naval forces have seized a large number of ships with smuggled fuel on board.