On social media, news about Iran and India has gone viral. While sharing the news, users wrote, “Just in, Iran seized an Indian oil tanker carrying 300,000 barrels of aviation fuel to Israel.”
Moreover, several users shared this video and made similar claims. The link can be seen here, here and here
Fact Check
During the investigation, DFRAC found the claim to be fake. We did not find any such report regarding this news. In fact, we found a recent report from ‘Al Arabiya News,’ published on December 17, 2024, stating, “Iran will auction two seized oil tankers involved in oil smuggling, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported on Tuesday. The two oil tankers, Sagha 2 and Ariana, will be sold in the auction, Mizan cited a judiciary official as saying. In October 2022, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the Panama-flagged vessel Ariana, which was carrying 11 million liters of smuggled fuel in the Gulf, according to Iran’s state media.”
Furthermore, we also found a report from ‘Asharq Al-awsat,’ published on December 17, 2024: “Iran will auction two seized oil tankers involved in oil smuggling, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported on Tuesday. The two oil tankers, Sagha 2 and Ariana, will be sold in the auction, Mizan cited a judiciary official as saying.”
Conclusion
It is evident from DFRAC’s fact check that the claim about Iran seizing an Indian oil tanker carrying aviation fuel to Israel is false. The investigation revealed no such report, and instead, the actual news pertains to Iran auctioning two oil tankers, the Sagha 2 and Ariana, which were seized for involvement in oil smuggling. Therefore, the viral claim is baseless and fake.
