The United States recently seized a ship and then sold off the Iranian oil it was carrying, according to reports over the weekend.
Source: msn.comU.S. authorities in February seized the Liberian-flagged tanker Achilleas off the coast of the United Arab Emirates as it was transporting Iranian oil, the Associated Pressreported Monday.The U.S. government brought the cargo to Houston, Texas, where it sold the oil.The oil sold from the cargo showed up in data released this weekend by the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy, confirming the U.S. imported just over 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil in March.
An EIA spokesman told the Washington Examiner this is the second time in the past year the U.S. has seized petroleum exports originating from Iran that the U.S. deemed in violation of international sanctions.
In both cases, the cargoes were imported into the U.S. Last October, the EIA reported the U.S. imported 1.1 million barrels of Iranian crude and petroleum from a similar seizure.
By seizing the ships, the U.S. was enforcing sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. Diplomats in Vienna are currently negotiating restoring the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump scrapped, which could bring sanctions relief to Iran.
