US Moves to Seize Iranian Oil Aboard a Liberia-Flagged Vessel Due to Terror Connections
The U.S. moved to seize all oil aboard a Liberia-flagged vessel, the M/T Achilleas, via a forfeiture complaint filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the oil is affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the IRGC-Qods Force, both U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations. The complaint alleges the IRGC and IRGC-Qods Force schemed to deliver the oil to a customer abroad and that the origins of the oil were disguised using ship-to-ship transfers, falsified documents, and other means to trick the owners of the Achilleas into transporting the oil, the Department of Justice announced in a Feb. 3 news release.
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“The forfeiture complaint filed today serves as a reminder that the IRGC and IRGC-QF continue to exert significant control over the sale of Iranian oil,” said Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division John Demers. “As we have demonstrated in the past, the department will deploy all tools at its disposal to ensure that the IRGC and IRGC-QF cannot use profits from the sale of Iranian oil to fund terrorism and other activities that threaten the safety and security of all Americans.”
The complaint stakes its claim based on U.S. terrorism forfeiture laws and alleges the oil constitutes the property of, or “source of influence” over, the IRGC and the IRGC-QF. In documents filed with the complaint, the U.S. asserts that profits from the sales of Iranian oil support a range of terror-related actions the two organizations carry out, including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism and human rights abuses, both at home and abroad, DOJ said.