Trump’s announcement
At a Friday press conference the following exchange took place about Trump’s seizure of the four oil tankers: “Q Wondering — yeah, they’re — they’re going to go to Houston. I’m wondering what you’re going to do with that oil and if this is something —
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll be announcing..“We have four tankers. They are going to Houston, and they’re there … Iran is not supposed to be doing that. And so we did — we seized the tankers, and we’re moving them, and moved, to Houston.”
Grounds and manner of seizure are not clear
The US has sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. These sanctions should apply only to US firms trying to do business with Venezuela but neither Iran nor Venezuela are bound by those sanctions. A recent article suggests that the shipowners could have been threatened with loss of registration or insurance. This would be sufficient for them to comply and sail to a US port. The article does not explain how the US could threaten loss of registration or insurance. However, the US has great international influence and power making it the biggest global bully. Another article explains; “Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the Latin American country. ” So why are analysts and commentators not writing about this. The US is able to engage in piracy by threatening any ship that objects to its actions with loss of registration and insurance. The mainstream press and commentators are virtually silent.
The official narrative
The Department of Justice statement on the issue is vague: “The Department of Justice said in a statement on the matter that the US filed a complaint “seeking to forfeit all petroleum-product cargo aboard four foreign-flagged oil tankers.” The DOJ statement said with “the assistance of foreign powers,” the seized fuel is now in “US custody.”” Notice the statement does not state where the complaint was filed. It does not say what the complaint was. It says nothing about what the legal basis for the action was. It says it was helped by foreign powers. Which foreign powers? What did they do? On what basis. Crucial facts are left out and basic questions unanswered.
The Department of Justice(DOJ) Statement
The first paragraph sums up the seizure: “The Justice Department today announced the successful disruption of a multimillion dollar fuel shipment by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, that was bound for Venezuela. These actions represent the government’s largest-ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran. ”
The complaint was filed in a US court and a seizure order for the cargo from all four vessels was issued by US District Court Judge Jeb Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. So a US court can order the seizure of such assets though they are owned by others. The court simply grants the plea that the cargo be forfeited:” On July 2, 2020, the United States filed a complaint seeking to forfeit all petroleum-product cargo aboard four foreign-flagged oil tankers, including the M/T Bella with international maritime organization (IMO) number 9208124, the M/T Bering with IMO number 9149225, the M/T Pandi with IMO number 9105073, and the M/T Luna with IMO number 9208100 (all pictured below). ” The four ships are shown in the article referenced but the ownership of the ships is not shown. The DOJ statement also mentions that they were helped by foreign powers but did not name them. The countries that helped obviously do not want it to be known that they did so.
When two countries which are both enemies of the US are engaging in perfectly legal trade the US is able using its own laws to seize the cargo and dispose of it according to its laws but none dare call this piracy. As indicated on the appended video Iran denies that the tankers are Iranian. Apparently they are Liberian flagged. The ship owners agreed to the seizure according to the video.
