Iran seizes intruding Saudi fishing boat

Iranian coast guards have intercepted a Saudi fishing vessel after it strayed into the Islamic Republic’s coastal waters off the southern Bushehr Province, a provincial coast guard official said.

“With the interception of this vessel, four intruders were arrested. The preliminary investigation showed that the vessel belongs to Saudi Arabia, but the captain and its crew are Indian nationals,” Ali Hajatpour, the deputy head of the Bushehr Province Coast Guard for operations, said on Tuesday.

He added that the vessel has been taken to the Bushehr Coast Guard base.

Hajatpour noted that it is the ninth vessel seized for “illegally crossing our country’s sea borders” in the Persian Gulf since the start of the current Iranian calendar year last March, leading to the arrest of 84 intruders.

Last November, Iranian coast guards impounded two Saudi fishing boats after they intruded into Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The nine crewmembers of both boats were all nationals of a South Asian country.

Iran and Saudi Arabia both have a coastline along the Persian Gulf, with Iran covering most of the northern coast and Saudi Arabia most of the southern one.