Page 7 - MEOG Week 33

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

US ‘grabs Iranian fuel en route to Venezuela’

IRAN THE US said on August 14 it had confis- shipments and assist the Departments of Justice
cated four Iranian fuel shipments bound for and Homeland Security in executing a U.S. sei-
Venezuela. zure order,” it said in a statement cited by Reu-
The American success goes some way to ters. The State Department did not disclose what
relieving the embarrassment felt in Washington steps Hook, whose resignation was announced
when in May Iran successfully sent a flotilla of earlier this week, took to secure the seizure.
gasoline-laden tankers to fuel-starved Vene- In July last year, Hook sent emails to the
zuela which, given that it is in common with the captain of a British-flagged oil tanker that was
Islamic Republic enduring crushing US sanc- briefly seized by Iran in the Gulf, saying that the
tions, has become a strategic ally to Tehran. Trump administration was offering him several
Meanwhile, there has been a slight growth in million dollars to steer the tanker to a country
speculation that US President Donald Trump that would impound it on behalf of Washington.
could seek to do a foreign policy deal with Iran The US has warned any ship owners and ves-
before his bid for re-election in November, but sels involved in oil trade with Tehran and Cara-
the evidence that secret talks are under way to cas that they could be sanctioned.
pave the path to that eventuality remains thin. US prosecutors filed a lawsuit in July to seize
Speaking at a White House news conference the gasoline aboard the four tankers, and a judge
following the announcement that the Iranian subsequently issued a warrant for seizure. Legal
fuel had been seized, Trump said Iran should sources previously told Reuters that the cargoes
not be sending cargoes to Venezuela and added could not be seized until they were in US terri-
that the seized shipments were now bound for torial waters.
Houston, Texas and suggested they may have The owners of the four vessels agreed to have
already arrived. the fuel transferred so it could be shipped to
“They’re going to Houston. And, they’re the US, a US government source told the news
there,” Trump said. “We’re moving them, and agency on August 13. The warrant only covered
moved, to Houston.” the cargoes, not the vessels.
The US Justice Department said the seized The four tankers that initially carried the
cargo was now in US custody “with the assis- cargoes were the Liberia-flagged Bella, Bering,
tance of foreign partners”. It added that the Pandi and Luna. They are owned and managed
amount confiscated from four tankers was by companies controlled by Greece-based firms
approximately 1.116mn barrels of fuel, making Vienna LTD and Palermo SA.
it the largest-ever US seizure of Iranian fuel. The Justice Department added that, following
Iran’s envoy to Venezuela Hojjat Soltani the seizure, Iran’s navy forcibly boarded an unre-
strongly rejected the US statement that it had lated ship in the Strait of Hormuz in an apparent
grabbed the fuel, writing on Twitter: “Another attempt to exert pressure to recover the seized
lie and psychological war from the Imperialist petroleum, and added that the US military’s
propaganda apparatus of the US. Neither are the Central Command published a video of it on
tankers Iranian nor do their owner or flags have August 13.
anything to do with Iran.” After Hook’s departure from his post, US
Special Envoy for Venezuela and foreign policy
Outgoing envoy credited hawk Elliot Abrams will add the Iran brief to his
The US State Department credited its outgoing duties.
special envoy for Iran for the seizure operation. The developing alliance between the two foes
“Our diplomacy, led by Special Representative of the US lately even saw an Iranian company
for Iran Brian Hook, was able to both halt these open a supermarket in Caracas.™

Week 33 19•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7