The Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday announced the “largest-ever” US government seizure of fuel from Iran in a successful disruption of a multimillion-dollar shipment by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization, which it was close to Venezuela.
The Department of Justice said on Friday that it had “successfully completed” the seizure order and confiscated the cargo of all four ships, which totaled about 1,116 million tons of petroleum.
DOJ SEEK FOR SERIES OF IRANIAN OIL TANKS
The Department of Justice credits the success to the U.S. government, but also the assistance of foreign partners in seizing the property.
Earlier this month, federal investigators received warrants to seize Iranian oil products aboard four tanks bound for Venezuela in violation of U.S. sanctions.
FBI and Homeland Security investigators have found that the cargo ships, the Bella, the Bering, the Pandi and the Luna, are the property of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization, according to a criminal complaint.
The seizure order for the cargo of all four ships was then issued by U.S. Judge Jeb Boasberg of the District Court for the District of Columbia.
The gains from the shipments are thought to be intended to support terrorism and a “wide range of unrest”, ranging from the purchase of weapons of mass destruction to the financing of human rights. The four ships carried a total of more than one million barrels of Iranian gasoline.
Following the order, earlier this month, the Justice Department said the Iranian navy was forcibly on an unrelated ship in an apparent attempt to recover the seized petroleum, but was unsuccessful.
The U.S. Central Command on Thursday released a video showing Iranian troops trying to occupy the petroleum.
“Today in international waters, Iranian forces, including two ships and an Iranian” Sea King “helicopter, took over and boarded a ship named ‘Wila,'” US Central Command said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government said last month that it had issued an arrest warrant for President Trump in connection with a missile strike that assassinated IRGC general Qassem Soleimani in January.
U.S. officials called the move a “propaganda stunt that no one takes seriously.”
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Soleimani played a role in the deaths of 608 U.S. troops during the Iraq war, according to the State Department. He was the leader of the elite Quds Force of the IRGC, an intelligence branch and designated terrorist group.
For months, the Trump administration has eased pressure on the maritime shipping industry to adhere to U.S. sanctions against Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. The Treasury Department has also cut back on companies that cut them.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
