The Trump administration has successfully seized Iranian fuel from four tankers sailing to Venezuela, and increased its “maximum pressure campaign” against Tehran, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News on Thursday night.
Iran and Venezuela have sought to limit sanctions imposed by the US on both countries by forming an oil partnership.
The confiscated charge, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, was a direct violation of U.S. sanctions. A former official explained that the tankers were not seized, but the oil is now in US possession.
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Federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit for counterfeiting in Washington, DC, claiming that all “petroleum products” on board the four ships called the Bella, the Bering, the Pandi and the Luna were a “source of influence” for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an establishment in the Iranian army.
The US has accused the Guard of being a terrorist organization and therefore claimed that the sale of oil from Iran to Venezuela financially sponsors The Guard and its militant actions.
President Trump has also increased U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil in the state, preventing them from selling oil to other countries without in turn maintaining U.S. sanctions.
The sanctions on Venezuela have meant a lack of business and investment in their oil refineries, and prevented them from producing oil supplies, which has left the country desperate about petroleum resources.
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“The Iranian oil tankers arriving in Venezuela are nothing more than a distraction from the real problems they are facing. [President Nicolás] Maduro, “a State Department spokesman told Fox News in May when the U.S. first caught wind of the broadcasts.” These missions will do nothing to help Venezuelans, they will only help to support the former Maduro regime for a while longer. “
Venetian sanctions are an attempt to persuade Maduro to resign, or at least to guarantee that he does not turn a profit and continue to abuse human rights.
Iran has undergone US sanctions as a strategy to prevent the country from investing in and developing its nuclear capabilities.
“We are two rebellious revolutionary peoples who will never kneel before North American imperialism,” Maduro said at a television event in May.
The four ships stopped by U.S. officials were privately owned ships, originally sailing as part of nine tank flotillas. The other five tankers were Iranian ships escorted by the Iranian navy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US reported contact with the owners of the ships before visiting the oil.
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US Prime Minister Mike Pompeo has urged the international community not to lift the current arms embargo on Iran in October.
“Tehran will become an arms trade for the Maduros and Assads of the world, sworn enemies of Israel such as Hamas and Hezbollah will be better armed, European peoples will be in danger,” Pompeo told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a news conference last month.
Fox News’ Rich News contributed to this report.
