Press TV - Iran has detained seven crew members of a fishing boat in the Persian Gulf for illegally entering the country’s territorial waters.

The coastguard commander for Iran’s southern Kish Island, Colonel Rahim Jahanbakhsh, said on Saturday that the dhow, belonging to an Arab littoral state of the Persian Gulf, was seized after trespassing on the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.

He added that the vessel’s crew members were fishing rare and endangered species, particularly blacktip and whitetip sharks.

Jahanbakhsh further said that Kish maritime forces have seized seven foreign boats that had illegally entered the country’s territorial waters since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2017) and arrested some 50 crew members.

They also confiscated some four tonnes of different types of fish, he noted.

The Iranian maritime official emphasized that the naval forces would strongly counter any intrusion into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.

Iran closely monitors all movements in its territorial waters, particularly in the Persian Gulf, to protect marine life and at the same time ensure the security of the country’s sea borders.

Under Iran's law, fishing for rare marine creatures carries hefty cash fines.