US Sells Seized Iranian Oil for $40 Million

Oil had been turned in by a Greek shipping company hired to transport it to Venezuela

The United States said Thursday that it had sold Iranian oil seized on its way to Venezuela for more than $40 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 $40 million will be recouped by the United States related to the sale of petroleum from those four vessels,” Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters by telephone. [“Recouped.”]

He said a “great portion” of it would 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 $879.1 million over a 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US airmen. [That was actually carried out by Al-Qaeda.]

Iran denies responsibility and states it has no intention of paying, saying the United States 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 to 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 favors diplomacy with Iran, the administration has been ramping up pressure further.

On Thursday, 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 president Barack Obama under which Iran scaled back its nuclear program drastically in return for sanctions relief.

Source: AFP

16 Comments
  1. Ron Ronery says

    When you are the biggest bully on the block, you (Amerikkka) makes the rules.

  2. nick1111 says

    Zionists are running the show in USA and Trump is an Israeli puppet

  3. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

    Why would a country with among the largest of oil reserves need to buy any from another?

    1. Raptar Driver says

      They don’t have the refineries.

  4. Undecider says

    All they have to do is hold out for four more years.

    1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

      If Biden gets into the White House, the oil companies will get what Obama gave the coal companies.

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  6. jm74 says

    Doubt that it is true; Iran has emphatically stated that the oil was not from Iran. If this was a fact then the Iranians would have reacted and the US would have suffered another loss.

  7. Raptar Driver says

    It seems the Greeks are little bitches.
    Are these the ancient greeks that conquered the old world?
    I think much like modern Jews are not ancient Hebrew as modern Greeks aren’t Helenic.

  8. Mike says

    It just proves, once again, what the US is all about. Everywhere they go, to use Pompeo’s quote, “we lie, we cheat, we steal”. The US are not the good guys! They are the enemy of the free world.

  9. thomas malthaus says

    https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=43995

    “U.S. crude oil imports from Canada accounted for 56% of all crude oil imports to the United States in 2019, averaging 3.8 million barrels per day (b/d)—up from 3.7 million b/d in 2018. In 2019, the United States exported 459,000 b/d of crude oil to Canada, which remained the largest destination for U.S. crude oil exports. U.S. crude oil exports to Canada are typically light, sweet grades that are shipped to the eastern part of the country. U.S. crude oil imports from Canada tend to be heavy and are sourced from oil sands in Alberta (Western Canada), and most of these exports flow to U.S. Midwest refineries.”

    https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/North-American-Oil-And-Gas-Bankruptcy-Debt-Has-Hit-An-All-Time-High.html

    https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Big-Profits-Are-No-Longer-The-Top-Priority-For-Oil-Investors.html

    Is there anything within this article or the inserted, quoted text that makes any American or outsider think the US is the world’s top energy exporter?

    The tanker’s apprehension as well as its contents will probably be labeled a “peace dividend.”

  10. Séamus Ó Néill says

    Well done America, you have to work hard to keep your title of the most loathed and detested nation on earth. Genocide, asassinations, looting, piracy, paedophilia, child slavery, people trafficking etc etc. I’m sure if you reach farther down into hell you’ll find something else, even more satanic and evil to foist on the world !

    1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

      Joe Biden will insure that we get all of those benefits back with interest, if we are stupid enough to elect him.
      We won’t get the interest if we elect Trump.

  11. James Willy says

    Oh well hopefully after tuesday night seppostan gets burned to the ground coast to coast. These maggots need to be attacked and destroyed. Pray for trump to win then hope the lefties can destroy yankeestan completely. FINALLY. The planet will cheer y’all on. Please get yankeeland DESTROYED.

  12. Melville Pouwels says

    F3CK….I HATE THE AMERICAN CNUTS…

    1. DON'T TREAD ON ME says

      Well FUCK YOU TOO!

      Your a fucking coward and a piece of SHIT!

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