Lawmakers demand Biden silence Iranian threats that left $56 MILLION oil on seized tanker off Texas coast
The Suez Rajan tanker with its cargo of 800,000 barrels of Iranian oil has been anchored off the coast of Texas for four months after being seized by US prosecutors for sanctions violations.
US contractors are refusing to unload the $56 million bounty over warnings from Iran’s Islamic Republican Guard and threats that US ships will be attacked in the Persian Gulf.
Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers is demanding to know how Tehran and a group designated as a terrorist group can wield such power over US territorial waters.
And in a letter to President Joe Biden, they urge him to confront the threats.
“The ability of a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) to prevent the transfer of seized assets within U.S. territorial waters is an unprecedented intimidation effort that threatens to undermine the security of our country,” the group of five writes. senators and five U.S. Representatives, made up of three Democrats and seven Republicans.
“No U.S. citizen or business should ever fear retaliation from an FTO for assisting law enforcement activities or legal trade.”
For four months, the Suez Rajan tanker carrying 800,000 barrels of Iranian oil has been anchored off the coast of Texas – just over 60 miles from Galveston – since being seized by US prosecutors for sanctions evasion. The transponder location is displayed by MarineTraffic
Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during a recent exercise. The group’s naval commanders say they will hold Washington responsible if the oil is unloaded
The standoff illustrates the difficulties US officials face in enforcing sanctions against Iran.
And it is set against a much larger backdrop of how to respond to Iranian threats.
The Suez Rajan has been under fire since last year after reports it had surreptitiously picked up a cargo of Iranian oil from another ship somewhere outside Singapore. It was intended for delivery to China.
The Iranian navy responded within days. The commandos dropped from a helicopter on the Advantage Sweet, a US tanker carrying Kuwaiti crude oil for Chevron, which seized the ship in international waters in the Gulf of Oman.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst, who hosted the letter, said Biden needed to take action.
“Iran’s increased aggression is a direct result of President Biden’s appeasement, and now they are so emboldened that the IRGC is shamelessly pulling the strings in US waters,” she told DailyMail.com.
“Now is not the time for weakness toward our foreign adversary, but the Biden administration is paying Iran $6 billion, which encourages Iran’s hostage-taking diplomacy, allows additional funding for their terrorist activities, and puts more Americans at risk.”
Last week, the White House confirmed it was working on a deal that would bring home five Americans in an Iranian prison. Part of the deal is to release $6 billion in seized assets to a bank in Qatar for Tehran to use for humanitarian purchases, such as food and medicine.
For now, the oil is stranded.
Iran responded to the seizure of the Suez Rajan within days. Iranian marines are seen here rappelling onto the deck of the Advantage Sweet, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker that carries oil for Chevron. This image is from a video released by the Iranian Navy on April 28
In their letter, five senators and five US representatives demand an end to an “unprecedented intimidation effort that threatens to undermine the security of our country”
Joni Ernst said: ‘Iran’s increased aggression is a direct result of Biden’s appeasement, and now they are so emboldened that the IRGC is shamelessly pulling the strings in US waters’
Last month, Iranian state media quoted the IRGC’s naval commander as warning Washington that it would be held responsible if it allowed the cargo to be unloaded.
“Companies with some exposure in the Persian Gulf are literally afraid to do it,” a Houston energy executive told the Wall Street Journal, citing fears “that the Iranians would retaliate against them.”
Prosecutors plan to use the proceeds from the sale of the oil for the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, which pays compensation to victims of terrorist attacks.
“Allowing the months-long delay in the seizure and transfer of the oil aboard the Suez Rajan will further delay the federal government’s ability to help heal US victims of terrorism through USVSST funds,” the lawmakers write. .
“This is not acceptable.”
They want more information about the ship and a national security assessment of Iran’s threats.
Signatories include Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Don Davis.
The Advantage Sweet was seized in April in the Gulf of Oman in international waters, days after the Suez Rajan was seized by US prosecutors
Pictured is Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
At the same time, motorists are confronted with creeping gas prices. They hit a 10-month high on Tuesday — hitting a national average of $3.86 a gallon, according to the AAA — following production restrictions in Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Republican Elise Stefanik, who hosted the letter among colleagues in the House, blamed the Biden administration for seeking a nuclear deal with Iran
“Recent reports allege that Iran is threatening retaliation against US citizens and companies if they become involved in offloading seized Iranian oil,” she said.
“This unacceptable behavior shows that the continued weakness of the Biden administration on the world stage only emboldens Iran.”
The US Navy says Iran has seized at least five commercial ships in the past two years has harassed more than a dozen others.
Many of the incidents have occurred in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow estuary of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all crude oil passes.