Iran brands US 'pirates' after fuel cargo seizure

Iran has denied that the cargoes of fuel confiscated by US federal agents from four tankers late last week were Iranian, denouncing the seizure as piracy.

The US Justice Department (DOJ) said in a 14 August statement that federal agents had taken custody of 1.16mn bl of Iranian gasoline aboard four Greek-owned, Liberia-flagged tankers — the Bella, the Bering, the Luna and the Pandi — which were bound for Venezuela.

A seizure order for the cargoes was issued by US District Court Judge Jeb Boasberg, the DOJ said, marking the "largest-ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran." It also represented the first successful attempt by the US authorities to confiscate Iranian cargoes since the re-imposition of a sanctions ban on all exports from Iran in May 2019.

The vessels were carrying gasoline estimated to be worth around $55mn, using Argus' US Gulf coast export gasoline assessments. US president Donald Trump tweeted shortly after the DOJ statement that the vessels were being moved to Houston.

All four vessels had disabled their AIS tracking before the seizure. The Luna was the last of the four to switch of its automatic identification systems (AIS) tracking on 1 August, according Vortexa.

But Iran disputes the claim.

"Pirates of the Caribbean have their own judges and courts now," Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted late on 15 August. "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."

Zarif was making reference to Washington's latest failed attempt to secure an extension of the UN arms embargo on Iran beyond its imminent expiry on 18 October.

Despite introducing a watered-down resolution to the UN Security Council in the hope of winning more support, the US ultimately failed, securing just one other vote, from the Dominican Republic, for its proposal. Russia and China, two permanent members with veto powers, voted against the resolution, while the 11 remaining members of the Security Council abstained. The US proposal would have needed 9 votes to pass.

Following the vote at the Security Council, US President Donald Trump said that the US is planning to press ahead with plans to trigger the "snapback" provision under the nuclear deal with Iran, or JCPOA. That would, in theory, require the EU and other countries to impose sanctions on Tehran if it violates the terms of the deal.

"We will be doing a snapback," Trump told reporters late yesterday. "You'll be watching it next week."

Although the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, the Trump administration claims that it is still a participant in the agreement, giving it the right to invoke snapback sanctions. Iran and the five other remaining signatories to the deal — France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China — all reject this.

Iran's President Hassan Rohani had earlier described the UN Security Council vote as a "humiliating" defeat for the US.

"I do not remember another time when the US prepared for months to strike a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and readied a resolution, only for it to get one vote."

Rohani said the US' claims of seizing the fuel cargoes were "a lie" to "cover up its humiliation" [at the UN Security Council].

The 14 August Justice Department statement also accused the Iranian navy of boarding "an unrelated vessel," the Wila, in the Gulf of Oman on 12 July, in what it described as "an apparent attempt to recover the seized petroleum" cargoes. It did not offer any proof of the connection.

The US Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, published a video of the incident on Twitter, showing two Iranian vessels boarding the Wila. The Wila is currently anchored off Fujairah in the UAE, according to Vortexa.

As yet, Iran has not formally responded to that particular claim.

By Adal Mirza and Nader Itayim