Iranian Ambassador to Venezuela hojat Soltani called the reported seizure of the goods by “false propaganda”. “That’s another lie and act of psychological warfare perpetrated by the American propaganda machine”, – he wrote on Twitter, adding that neither the ships nor their owners have nothing to do with Iran.
on Friday the press-Secretary of the US state Department said that the proceeds from the sale of the confiscated batch of fuel “can now support the Fund for victims of state sponsored terrorism and not those involved in terrorism.” The White house hinted that supplies were going to bypass the sanctions regime imposed by Washington against Tehran and Caracas. On the same day, the Ministry of justice of the USA declared about “successfully produced the arrest of a multimillion-dollar batch of fuel controlled by the Islamic revolutionary guard Corps (IRGC)”. The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces, recognized by the White house as a foreign terrorist organization. “Foreclosed property is now deposited in the United States,” – said in a statement. If it is not specified when and where he was arrested the goods. The justice Ministry also said that the Iranian Navy wanted to Board the ship in “an apparent attempt to return the captured oil.”
a Senior U.S. official told the news Agency Associated Press, that the capture was not used military force. Instead, the US has threatened to shipowners, underwriters and captains of sanctions, to voluntarily give oil. It is currently unclear where the court’s “Bella”, “Bering”, “Pandi” and “Moon”.
Note that the tension between Iran and the United States worsened after the unilateral withdrawal of Washington in 2018 from nuclear deal “five” and Tehran. In addition, Washington has imposed extensive sanctions against Iran and Venezuela to block oil exports. The White house does not hide plans to remove the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro from power and to change the behavior of the leaders of the Islamic Republic.
