US confirms seizing cargo containing Iranian oil earlier this year
Iranian oil earlier this year, Al Jazeera reported.
Notably, this strong move by the US resulted in severe tensions in the Gulf.
«This is the first-ever criminal resolution involving a company that violated sanctions by facilitating the illicit sale and transport of Iranian oil and comes in concert with a successful seizure of over 980,000 barrels of contraband crude oil,» said the Justice Department in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.
The department hailed the move for «successfully disrupting a multimillion-dollar shipment of crude oil,» by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is designated as a «foreign terrorist organization» in the US.
Following its seizure of the Iranian oil, Washington charged Tehran with arresting a number of foreign ships transiting the Gulf.
Tehran was outraged when the Pentagon revealed in August that it was deploying tens of thousands more US soldiers to the area to «support deterrence efforts» and guard maritime lines, notably the Strait of Hormuz., according to Al Jazeera.
Iran has argued that capturing Iranian property in international waters is equivalent to piracy, whereas the US regards stopping Iranian oil ships as law enforcement.
«Acts of trespassing on tankers carrying Iranian oil are a clear example of piracy,» Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanasaid last month, as per Al Jazeera.
In August, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington would welcome any steps from Tehran for de-escalating the «growing nuclear threats».
He, however, also clarified that the process of bringing back US citizens detained in Iran is a «completely different» matter.
Addressing the state briefing, Antony Blinken
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