The United States on Friday imposed sanctions against an oil tanker belonging to the Iranian regime for transporting Iranian crude oil to Syria in violation of international sanctions.
“The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action today against Adrian Darya 1, an oil tanker transporting 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil ultimately benefitting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF),” the Treasury said in a statement on August 30, 2019.
The Adrian Darya 1’s captain, Akhilesh Kumar, was also designated as part of the U.S. action.
The IRGC-QF’s highest-ranking officials have long overseen the export of Iranian oil, often masking its origin and sending it to the Syrian regime or IRGC-QF proxies across the region, the Treasury pointed out.
“Vessels like the Adrian Darya 1 enable the IRGC-QF to ship and transfer large volumes of oil, which they attempt to mask and sell illicitly to fund the regime’s malign activities and propagate terrorism,” said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“Anyone providing support to the Adrian Darya 1 risks being sanctioned. The path to relief is to change course and not allow the IRGC-QF to profit from illicit oil sales.”
Commenting on the designation, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet on Friday: “The U.S. will not idly watch the Assad regime use Iranian oil to terrorize its own people.”
Today, @USTreasury designated the #AdrianDarya1 and its captain for providing assistance to the IRGC to sell illicit oil from Iran to Syria. The U.S. will not idly watch the Assad regime use Iranian oil to terrorize its own people. https://t.co/6L7oh4cUMS
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 31, 2019
The Adrian Darya 1, previously called Grace 1, was detained earlier this month by British authorities in Gibraltar for violating EU sanctions on the sale of oil to the Syrian regime. It was later released after UK authorities received assurances that the oil would not be sold to Syria.
FM @JZarif guaranteed to the UK that the IRGC oil tanker #Grace1 / #AdrianDarya1 would not head to Syria. We have reliable information that the tanker is underway and headed to Tartus, Syria. I hope it changes course. It was a big mistake to trust Zarif. pic.twitter.com/ZJ06MWjvCO
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 30, 2019
Source » ncr-iran