Washington seeks to seize Venezuelan oil tanker

The United States has requested the seizure of the motor tanker Skipper and approximately 1.8 million barrels of oil supplied by the Venezuelan state-owned company PDVSA. The Department of Justice announced on Friday that it had filed a lawsuit in the District of Columbia court.

According to the filing, the tanker was involved in a 2021 scheme to facilitate the transport and sale of petroleum products for the benefit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The department noted that the ship transported oil from Iran and Venezuela and, through ship-to-ship transfers, delivered it to various locations around the world, including countries designated as hostile.

According to the department, the skipper masked his activities by falsifying position data, using false flags and other tactics to conceal the circumvention of sanctions and obscure routes.

The oil supertanker was detained by the United States near Venezuela in December as part of a strategy to increase pressure on President Nicolás Maduro. He was detained on 3 January along with his wife and transported to the US, where they face charges.

(reuters, max)