Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Mohammad Javad Zarif,  Foreign Minister of the Republic of Iran

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Iran disputes it owned a multimillion-dollar fuel shipment bound for Venezuela that U.S. Federal agents seized last Friday.  The U.S. said it was the largest-ever seizure of its kind. On July 2, 2020, the U.S. DOJ  filed a complaint seeking to forfeit all petroleum-product cargo aboard four foreign-flagged oil tankers, including the M/T Bella with international maritime organization (IMO) number 9208124, the M/T Bering with IMO number 9149225, the M/T Pandi with IMO number 9105073, and the M/T Luna with IMO number 9208100.  Mohammad Javad ZarifIran denounced the U.S. claims in at  tweet. 

"Pirates of the Caribbean" have their own judges and courts now.

Sadly for them, stolen booty wasn't Iran's. Fuel was sold F.O.B. Persian Gulf. Ship and flag weren't ours either.

Hollow, cheap propaganda doesn’t deflect from miserable failure of US diplomatic malpractice at UN.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 15, 2020

Credit:  U.S. Department of Justice / Foreign-flagged oil tanker The M/T Bella with international maritime organization (IMO) number 9208124 carrying Iranian cargo bound for Venezuela.

 A seizure order for the cargo from all four vessels was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Jeb Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. said that,  with the assistance of foreign partners, agents confiscated a total of 1.1 million barrels of petroleum from four foreign-flagged oil tankers, as Tehran and Caracas attempt to evade U.S. sanctions. US prosecutors filed the  Federal Court action  seeking seizure of all Iranian gasoline aboard the four tankers headed to Venezuela in the Trump administration’s latest move to choke the life out of  the embattled Maduro regime.  In June the US  imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who delivered 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline to Venezuela in support of the Maduro regime.  In May, five Iranian tankers loaded with badly-needed fuel shipments were delivered to Venezuela.  The shipments from the Islamic Republic of Iran  ignited fears of a military confrontation as the U.S. at one point hinted it would stop the fuel deliveries.  The Trump administration staunchly backs Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

IRAN Ambassador to Venezuela Says Allegations of Iranian ships’ seizure False:

Hojjat Soltani, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Venezuela, released a Twitter post, describing the reports of the U.S. seizure of Iranian ships “another lie”,  according to Iranpress.com. 

Ambassador Soltani wrote on Twitter:

“Another lie and psychological war of the US imperialist propaganda. Neither the ships are Iranian nor their owner or flag has anything to do with Iran. Terrorist Trump cannot make up for his humiliation and defeat against the great nation of Iran with false propaganda.”

According to ISNA news agency, Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh also maintains the fuel seized by the U.S. did not belong to Tehran. “The U.S. claimed it seized Iranian petrol, but even though the cargo was sent from Iran, neither the ships nor the petrol were Iranian,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying.

Credit:  U.S. Department of Justice / Foreign-flagged oil tanker M/T Bering with IMO number 9149225 carrying Iranian cargo bound for Venezuela.

Seized Oil Tankers To be Sent To Houston, TX:  President Trump

President Donald Trump said during a press conference the seized tankers would be sent to Houston, but did not elaborate.