HOUSTON, Sept 8 (Portal) – The United States said on Friday it had disrupted a multimillion-dollar crude oil shipment from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in April, seizing more than 980,000 barrels of smuggled crude in violation of U.S. sanctions.
In April, Portal reported that the US seized cargo aboard the tanker Suez Rajan, which was carrying Iranian oil at sea. Friday’s US statement confirmed and fleshed out details of the story, citing sources.
The “illegal sale and transportation of Iranian oil” violates sanctions against Iran, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement acknowledging its role for the first time. An agreement between the parties was published this week.
The ship was unloaded last month after waiting two and a half months to unload off the coast of Texas.
The company, Suez Rajan Ltd, pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced to three years’ probation and a fine of nearly $2.5 million, according to legal documents.
Empire Navigation, the operating company of the ship that carried the contraband cargo, agreed to cooperate and transport the Iranian oil to the United States, the DOJ added, calling it the first criminal resolution of such a sanctioned sale.
Empire Navigation, which also incurred the significant costs associated with the ship’s voyage to the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It’s a message to every Iranian smuggler that there is a way out of the crowd,” said Mark Wallace, executive director of the U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, which uses satellite imagery to track tanker movements and was first to note Suez Rajan had taken the oil from another tanker.
Wallace added that Empire Navigation should be commended for its cooperation with US authorities.
Participants attempted to conceal the origin of the oil by using ship-to-ship transfers, false reports through automatic identification systems, forged documents and other means, the DOJ said, adding that the ship’s charterer violated the U.S. financial system used to facilitate the transport of Iranian oil.
According to the DOJ, the contraband shipment is now the subject of a civil forfeiture action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The forfeiture complaint alleges that the oil on board the vessel is subject to forfeiture under terrorism and money laundering laws, the DOJ added. Funds successfully forfeited due to a connection to a state sponsor of terrorism may be forwarded, in whole or in part, to the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.
According to legal documents, Suez Rajan Ltd has agreed to give up all interests in the cargo and waive all challenges.
Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington DC, Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, Jonathan Saul in London; Edited by David Gregorio
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