Admin l Thursday, June 25, 2020
WASHINGTON, U.S. – The United States today imposed sanctions on five captains of an Iranian ship for delivering an approximately 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline and related components to Venezuela.
The gasoline were delivered to Venezuela via the following tankers, CLAVEL, PETUNIA, FORTUNE, FOREST and FAXON, the United States said.
In a statement, Secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo said by delivering the gasoline to Venezuela, the Iranian captains were assisting Maduro, whose regime the U.S. believes is illegitimate.
The five captains of the Iranian tankers, the statement said, are now added to the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) maintained by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
“As a result of today’s sanctions, these captains’ assets will be blocked. Their careers and prospects will suffer from this designation”, Mike Pompeo said, adding that mariners who are considering work with Iran and Venezuela should understand that aiding these oppressive regimes is simply not worth the risk.
According to him, individuals and entities will face consequences from the United States if they do business with the Iranian regime, Maduro, or his cronies.
“The rogue regimes in Caracas and Tehran are unified by their penchant for repressing their people, corruption, self-enrichment, and gross mismanagement of their peoples’ wealth. The Maduro regime has mismanaged Venezuela’s abundant natural resources to the point that it must import gasoline from Iran, and Maduro’s claims of equal and fair gasoline distribution are fooling no one.
“Iran’s continued support to Venezuela is yet another instance of Iran wasting its people’s resources on ill-conceived foreign adventurism that prolongs suffering abroad. The only solution to Venezuela’s problems is a democratic transition that restores freedom and prosperity”, the statement added.
The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 13599.
