The Indian coast guard has reportedly seized three Iranian oil tankers in the Arabian Sea in what it called a “coordinated operation against an international oil smuggling network, according to Iranian media.

The development came weeks after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government withdrew from the Chabahar port agreement with Iran. New Delhi was forced to abandon its involvement in the port after the United States imposed a 25% tariff on countries doing business with Tehran, The Economic Times reported last week.

Taking to X, the Indian Coast Guard, without naming Iran, claimed that it intercepted the vessels around 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai on Friday following what it called “tech-enabled surveillance and data-pattern analysis.”

However, tanker-tracking analysts and Iranian media claimed the vessels were linked to Iran.

“The syndicate exploited mid-sea transfers in international waters to move cheap oil from conflict-ridden regions to motor tankers, evading duties owed to coastal states,” the coast guard said.

However, tanker-tracking firm TankerTrackers identified the vessels as AL JAFZIA, ASPHALT STAR, and STELLAR RUBY, saying all three were under US sanctions. The firm added that STELLAR RUBY was operating under the Iranian flag.

Iranian media separately reported that the seized tankers were linked to Iran and were detained on allegations of oil smuggling.

The Indian Coast Guard said the ships were known for frequently changing their identities, adding that the operation demonstrated India’s role as “a net provider of maritime security and guardian of the rules-based international order.”

Neither Indian authorities nor Iranian officials have publicly commented on the reports linking the seized vessels to Iran.

Voters in Bangladesh elect a new government on February 12, but analysts warn their choice is threatened by a coordinated surge of disinformation, much of which originates from neighbouring India.

The Muslim-majority nation of around 170 million people is preparing for its first election since a 2024 student-led uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina — who fled to neighbouring India, where she has been hosted since by the Hindu-nationalist government.

Authorities say the scale of online manipulation — including sophisticated AI-generated images — has become so severe that a special unit has been created to curb false content.

Interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said in January that there had been a “flood of misinformation surrounding the elections” when he called UN rights chief Volker Turk seeking help.

“It is coming from both foreign media and local sources,” he said.

Much of that centres around claims of attacks against Bangladesh’s minorities — around 10% of Bangladesh’s population is non-Muslim, most of them Hindu.

That has seen a mass posting of claims online that Hindus are under attack, using the hashtag “Hindu genocide”.

According to police figures released in January, out of 645 incidents involving members of minority groups in 2025 — only 12% were classified as having a sectarian motive.

‘Coordinated Indian disinformation’

The US-based Centre for the Study of Organised Hate said it had tracked more than 700,000 posts — generated by more than 170,000 accounts on X, that made claims of a “Hindu genocide” between August 2024 and January 2026.

“We have tracked coordinated Indian disinformation online, falsely alleging large-scale violence against Hindus in Bangladesh,” said Raqib Naik, head of the think tank.

“More than 90% of this content originated from India, with the remainder linked to associated Hindu nationalist networks in the UK, US, and Canada,” he told AFP.

Examples debunked by AFP Fact Check, some of them shared tens of thousands of times, include an AI-created video of a woman who had lost her arm, appealing not to vote for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen by many as a frontrunner.

In another computer-generated video, a Hindu woman alleges that people who follow the same religion have been told to vote for Jamaat-e-Islami, or they will be exiled to India.

Of the hundreds of AI-generated videos documented by AFP Fact Check teams on social media platforms — YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram — few are marked with an AI disclaimer.

The surge has also come after years of repression under Hasina, when opposition was crushed and outspoken voices silenced.

“We are noticing a huge amount of fake information compared to other times,” said Miraj Ahmed Chowdhury, head of the Dhaka-based research organisation Digitally Right, saying free AI tools made creating sophisticated fakes easier.

In another AI-generated video, Bangladeshis appear to praise Hasina — now a fugitive who was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity.

In India, social media outrage by Hindu fundamentalists about the lone Bangladeshi cricket player in India’s domestic IPL league resulted in his club cancelling his contract — a furore that escalated to Bangladesh’s national team pulling out of this month’s T20 World Cup in India.

But while analysts say much of the disinformation originates from India, there is no evidence that the large-scale media posts were organised by the government.

New Delhi’s foreign ministry says they have recorded a “disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities” by “extremists in Bangladesh”, but also emphasise they have “consistently reiterated our position in favour of free, fair, inclusive and credible elections”.

‘Big threat’

Bangladesh Election Commission spokesman Md Ruhul Amin Mallik said they were working with Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and set up a unit to monitor social media posts — but coping with the sheer volume online is a never-ending task.

“If our team detects any content as harmful and misleading, we instantly announce it as fake information,” Mallik said.

Election expert Jasmine Tuli, a former election commission official, said that AI-generated images carried an extra risk for Bangladesh.

More than 80% of urban households have at least one smartphone, and nearly 70% of rural areas, according to government statistics — but many people are still relatively new to the technology.

“It is a big threat for a country like Bangladesh, since people don’t have much awareness to check the information,” Tuli said.

“Due to AI-generated fake visuals, voters get misguided in their decision.”

Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell intends to refuse to answer questions at a Monday deposition before the House’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to a Sunday letter from US Representative Ro Khanna.

Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and decline to answer all substantive questions, according to Khanna’s letter to Representative James Comer, the committee chair.

Maxwell’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Instead of answering individual questions, Maxwell plans to read a prepared statement at the beginning of her deposition, Khanna, who serves on the committee, said without detailing the source of his information.

“This position appears inconsistent with Maxwell’s prior conduct, as she did not invoke the Fifth Amendment when she previously met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss substantially similar subject matter,” Khana, a California Democrat, wrote in his letter seeking clarification on her testimony.

Maxwell’s deposition comes as the US Department of Justice has released of millions of internal documents related to Epstein.