US Sold Seized Iranian Gasoline for $40 Million

Announces new sanctions against Iran for trying to sell gas to Venezuela

Four tankers containing 1.1 million barrels of gasoline from Iran, which was subject to a legal battle after the US seized them, have been disposed of, sold by the US government for $40 million. They say the money will be given to terror victims.

The US accused the gasoline of coming from Iran and going to Venezuela. The owner/operator of the tankers contested this claim, though the US was already prepared to keep the gasoline anyhow, so it didn’t really matter to them.

The US Treasury and State Departments imposed sanctions on 11 firms related to Iranian petrochemicals, again nominally related to this transaction, and to the US forbidding Iran from selling oil or Venezuela from buying it.

This is the second round of sanctions imposed on Iran’s oil industry this week. The first round was expected to limit former VP Joe Biden from restoring ties with Iran if he wins next week’s election.

On top of this, US officials claimed to have seized Iranian missiles they believed were en route to Yemen. This is a common accusation made by the US, though the evidence for where the missiles came from or are going is rarely very strong.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.