US expected to offload oil from seized Iranian tanker

The US is expected to begin offloading oil soon from an Iranian vessel it seized that is now anchored off the coast of Texas, threatening to escalate a shadow tanker war with Tehran.

According to transponder location data and satellite imagery, the Suez Rajan arrived off the coast of Galveston on May 29 and is at anchor about 70 miles from the Texas port.

The US Justice Department seized the Suez Rajan under a court order in cooperation with at least one company linked to the ship, the FT previously reported. The ship has been the subject of scrutiny since last year after it was claimed to have picked up a cargo of Iranian oil from another ship near Singapore that was then intended for China.

The Suez Rajan case is one of several recent maritime incidents involving the US and Iran and threatens to escalate tensions between the countries as Washington and its European allies renew talks over how to contain Iran’s nuclear activity. is discussed.

The US seized the ship in April, prompting Iran to seize the Advantage Sweet, which was carrying Kuwaiti crude for US energy company Chevron.

The Biden administration recently increased patrols in response to the seizure of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a third of ocean-going oil cargo passes daily.

A former Joe Biden administration official said the Swayze Rajan’s arrival off the coast of Galveston likely signals that the US government has struck a deal with the ship’s owners and operators on criminal penalties.

The vessel is carrying approximately 800,000 barrels of oil, valued at approximately $56 million.

According to the US Bureau of Shipping, the ship received a license to import Iranian oil from the US Treasury Department, which boarded the ship to conduct a security inspection upon arrival from Texas. The ship is expected to arrive in the port of Galveston in the coming days. Generally, court documents related to seizure of assets are opened after the government has taken them.

Former US officials said the US will sell the oil if it hasn’t already and the proceeds are likely to go to a fund created by Congress for American victims of state-sponsored terrorism.

However, the government has leeway in what it can do with the money from the sale and choose to distribute them in other ways, such as to those who stand up to the Iranian regime, such as those of the Biden administration. the former official said.

The DoJ declined to comment. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control declined to comment.

Iran was once a major source of imported oil for the US, but this changed after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and a steady deterioration in relations in the decades that followed.

US imports of banned Iranian oil have been extremely rare since then – the US imported 2 million barrels in 2021, which it sold after seizing an oil tanker off Iran’s coast. United Arab Emirates and 507,000 barrels in 2022, believed to be linked to the seizure of two tankers with Iranian oil.