US sells seized Iranian fuel, seeks forfeiture of missiles
The United States has sold and delivered the 1.1 million barrels of Iranian oil seized from four Venezuela-bound vessels in August.
The US Department of Justice unveiled Thursday the filing of a civil forfeiture action for seized shipments of Iranian missiles and announced the sale of fuel confiscated from Venezuela-bound Iranian oil tankers during the summer.
“With these seizure actions, we are expanding our toolbox to combat Iran’s bad behavior,” said John Demers, the assistant attorney general for the National Security Division.
“The two forfeiture complaints allege sophisticated schemes by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to secretly ship weapons to Yemen and fuel to Venezuela, countries that pose grave threats to the security and stability of their regions,” Demers said.
US Navy warships in November and February interdicted flagless vessels in the Arabian Sea that US officials say contained Iranian-made advanced conventional weapons. According to the complaint, experts determined that the guided anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles and other weapons were of Iranian origin and destined for militant groups in Yemen.
