October 30, 2020
Two cargoes of Iranian gasoline bound for Venezuela that were seized by the US over the summer have arrived in New Jersey, kicking off a legal battle over who is the rightful owner.
Four non-Iranian tankers carrying Iranian gasoline were intercepted this summer in an unprecedented move by the Trump Administration, which, in addition to sanctioning Iran, has sanctioned Venezuela’s oil industry in an effort to oust President Nicolas Maduro.
The shipowners relinquished the cargoes at sea and transferred them onto other tankers that brought the gasoline to the US. The capture of 1.16 million barrels of petroleum was praised by the Department of Justice as the “largest-ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran.”
The Trump Administration sold the oil in late October without waiting for the suit to go before a judge. The US alleges the gasoline was owned by the Pas-daran—a designated foreign terrorist organization. But that is disputed by three firms that say they are the owners—Mobin International Limited, Oman Fuel Trading Ltd and Sohar Fuel Trading LLC. They say the gasoline was not bound for Venezuela but for other Latin American countries.
The companies have filed a motion in federal court saying the fuel should be handed over to them.
Iran first supplied gasoline to fuel-starved Venezuela in May when the first of five Iranian-owned ships arrived there.
For some reason, Iran decided not to use its own tankers for the next shipment, loading the gasoline on Greek-owned tankers. The Greek owners decided to turn the oil over to the US when confronted by US demands. Iran may have decided to use foreign-owned tankers thinking they were less likely to be boarded by the US.
But now Iran is in the process of making a third delivery and is using Iranian-owned tankers again. Three Iranian vessels delivering gasoline arrived in Venezuela at the end of September.
To date, Venezuela has received about 2.37 million barrels of gasoline from Iran or less than one day’s worth of Iranian crude oil exports before sanctions were imposed.
Iran says Venezuela is paying for the gasoline and the deliveries are not a gift.
