Iran seized two foreign oil tankers in the Persian Gulf Thursday, accusing them of smuggling fuel and detaining 15 foreign crew members ahead of high-stakes U.S.–Iran talks Friday in Oman.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said it intercepted the two ships near Farsi Island, claiming they were carrying about 1 million liters of smuggled fuel, Reuters reported.

The crews, made up of 15 foreign nationals, were taken into custody and referred to Iran’s judicial authorities, according to Iranian state media.

US POSITIONS AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, STRIKE PLATFORMS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN TALKS SHIFT TO OMAN

The IRGC alleged the vessels were part of an organized fuel-smuggling network that had been operating in the region for several months.

Iranian officials said the ships were identified through intelligence monitoring and seized during coordinated naval operations in the Persian Gulf, a vital artery for global energy markets.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Iranian authorities framed the operation as a significant blow to illegal fuel trafficking, though they did not immediately disclose the vessels’ nationalities or destinations.

US MILITARY WARNS IRAN IT WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY ‘UNSAFE’ ACTIONS AHEAD OF LIVE-FIRE DRILLS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ

The seizures come as Iranian rhetoric toward the U.S. has grown hostile.

Ezzatollah Zarghami, a former Iranian minister and ex–state broadcaster chief, issued a warning, threatening violence in the Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil and petroleum product consumption passes.

“I am sure that the Strait of Hormuz will be the place of massacre and hell for the U.S.,” Zarghami said Thursday.

“Iran will show that the Strait of Hormuz has historically belonged to Iran. The only thing the Americans can think of is playing with their vessels and moving them from one place to another.”

IRANIAN MEDIA CLAIMS DRONE SHOT DOWN BY US WAS CONDUCTING SURVEILLANCE IN A ‘ROUTINE AND LAWFUL MISSION’

Zarghami later repeated the threat, calling the Strait a potential “killing field” for American forces and signaling Iran’s willingness to escalate amid mounting regional pressure.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet Iranian officials in Oman Friday.

The pair are traveling from Abu Dhabi after two days of talks related to Russia and Ukraine.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday that Friday’s talks were still on, stating “diplomacy is always [Trump’s] first option.”

An unidentified individual has shot Lieutenant General Alekseyev in the Russian capital before fleeing the scene, authorities say.

A senior Russian military official has been hospitalised after being shot several times in Moscow, according to state media quoting Russian officials.

An unknown assailant carried out a gun attack on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy chief of Russian military intelligence, in a residential building, Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee (ICR), said on Friday.

Alekseyev is deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff at the Defence Ministry.

Petrenko told reporters that a criminal investigation has been opened for attempted murder, and illegal trafficking in firearms regarding the incident, according to the Interfax news agency.

She said that the shooting attack took place in a building at Volokolamsk Highway in Moscow and the suspect fled the scene.

“The victim was hospitalised in one of the city hospitals,” Petrenko said, adding that investigators and forensic experts are currently working at the scene of the incident, reviewing CCTV footage, and questioning witnesses.

Alekseyev was one of the officials sent to negotiate with the late leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a rebellion against Moscow in 2023 and the was killed in a plane crash which many observers blamed on President Vladimir Putin.

Series of assassinations

Several senior Russian officers have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine four years ago, with Moscow blaming the attacks on Kyiv.

In some cases, Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility.

The most recent officer to be killed was the head of the General Staff’s army training directorate, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, who was killed by a bomb under his car on December 22.

Last month a Russian court sentenced an Uzbek man to life in prison for the 2024 killing of the head of the Russian army’s radiological, chemical and biological defence forces.

The general, Igor Kirillov, was killed when a booby-trapped scooter exploded as he left an apartment block in Moscow, in an attack Kyiv said it had orchestrated.