A natural-gas platform made by an affiliate of Iran 's Revolutionary Guards has sunk in the Persian Gulf , Iranian media said Wednesday, a setback for the country's efforts to respond to international sanctions.

Technicians were trying to pull the $40 million, 1,300-metric-tons platform in the South Pars field, the Mehr news agency reported, citing Sepehr Sepehri, deputy manager of the company overseeing the field, state-owned Pars Oil and Gas Co. Ltd.

The platform sunk to the bottom of the Gulf as it was being installed by POGC and its builder, Iranian Marine Industrial Co, or Sadra, which is controlled by the Guards.

The reason for the incident was unclear. A spokesman for Pars Oil and Gas couldn't be reached.

Faced with a ban to import key oil technologies from the U.S. and the European Union, Iran is building its own oil equipment in order to achieve self-reliance.

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