WASHINGTON – The US yesterday said it has sold Iranian oil seized on its way to Venezuela for more than US$40 million (RM166.3 million).
Washington announced in August that it had confiscated 1.1 million barrels of petroleum from four tankers en route between the two countries, which are both under US sanctions.
“We estimate that in excess of US$40 million will be recouped by the US related to the sale of petroleum from those four vessels,” Michael Sherwin, acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters by telephone.
He said a “great portion” of it will be contributed to a US fund for victims of “state-sponsored terrorism”.
US courts have ordered Iran’s clerical regime to pay damages over attacks, most recently in July, when a judge told Tehran to pay US$879.1 million over a 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US airmen.
Iran denies responsibility and states it has no intention of paying, saying the US should instead compensate for past episodes including its support of Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but its economy and infrastructure have collapsed to the point that it suffers blackouts and needs help from Iran, which it pays in gold.
President Donald Trump has been seeking to weaken Iran regionally and remove Venezuela’s leftist leader, Nicolas Maduro, who shows little sign of leaving soon.
Days before an election in which Trump faces Democrat Joe Biden, who favours diplomacy with Iran, the administration has been ramping up pressure.
Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against eight entities based in Iran, China and Singapore for exporting petrochemical products.
Trump in 2018 walked away from a deal brokered by former US president Barack Obama under which Iran scaled back its nuclear programme drastically in return for sanctions relief. – AFP, October 30, 2020
