A tanker carrying Iranian fuel seized by the US discharged in New York on Thursday, according to vessel tracking data. The Singapore-flagged Maersk Progress unloaded 557,000 barrels of gasoline.
In July, the US seized an estimated 1.1 million barrels of Iranian fuel on four privately owned tankers that were bound for Venezuela. That fuel was then transferred to two tankers, the Maersk Progress and the Euroforce, which has been off the coast of Houston since September 9th.
It is not clear exactly how the US seized the fuel shipments. With US sanctions on Venezuela specifically targeting the maritime industry, it is possible the shipowners were threatened with the loss of registration or insurance, which could have been enough for them to comply and sail to a US port.
Iran and Venezuela are natural trading partners since both are under heavy US sanctions. Venezuela is facing a dire gasoline shortage due to the economic blockade imposed by the US, and Iran has plenty of fuel to sell. The two countries continue to trade and skirt US sanctions.
Earlier this week, a convoy of three Iranian tankers arrived in Venezuelan waters. Iran confirmed it received gold bars from Venezuela as payment for the shipments.
It seems to me a sanction is a little like denying the Holacaust. When we deny something obvious we just show our ignorance and maybe ruffle a few feathers but no real harm done. It’s similar with these so called sanctions, you know certain people we don’t like can’t sell their oil etc. So we can sanction all we want and show our ignorance but when we enforce a sanction we are most likely hurting innocent people and that is a crime against humanity in my book because we are an imperfect people and forcing others to do what we demand is just plain wrong.
Exactly. The US hopes that if they make the Iranian people suffer enough they’ll rise up and overthrow their leadership and install a government friendly towards the US. They’ve been doing that to Cuba for the past 60 years and it hasn’t work yet so I don’t know why they think it will work in Iran.
How did the US end up with this oil?…. Piracy.
Pirates, thieves and warmongers. Certainly not a “great” country.
We take from the poor and give to the rich. The proceeds of the sale will be given to so-called victims if Iranian terrorism residing in the U.S. Venezuelans need the fuel for their farms but instead we will give it to much wealthier Americans.
So what does Guaido have to say about this, why does he get to remain silent about the theft of Venezuelan property?
Good question – when the stolen loot was sold in New York, to whom was the check made out to?
So now we can add piracy to all the other crimes committed by this rogue nation.