US lawmakers question if Iranian 'intimidation effort' delaying seized oil transfer
American shipping companies have reportedly been reluctant to offload Iranian oil from a tanker anchored off the coast of Texas.
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is pressing the Biden administration to explain whether threats by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have prevented the United States from offloading Iranian oil from a vessel that federal authorities seized months ago.
The Financial Times reported in April that the US Department of Justice had confiscated the China-bound Suez Rajan under court order. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, which is loaded with 800,000 barrels of Iranian crude, was redirected toward the United States and is currently anchored off the coast of Galveston, Texas.
A senior commander in the IRGC navy said last month that Tehran would retaliate against any shipping company that offloads the Suez Rajan’s cargo. Fearing possible reprisal, American shipping companies have been reluctant to transfer the oil, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The bicameral letter led by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) refers to such threats as “an unprecedented intimidation effort” by the IRGC, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
