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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/09/06/605466/Iran-tanker-sanctions-treasury-OFAC-refuel">https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/09/06/605466/Iran-tanker-sanctions-treasury-OFAC-refuel</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">US threatens to sanction anyone fueling
Iran tanker</h1>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time">Fri Sep 6, 2019</div>
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<p><strong>The US Treasury Department has threatened to
blacklist anyone around the world who helps fuel an
Iranian vessel already sanctioned by the US
administration.</strong></p>
<p>In an update to its frequently asked questions on Iran
sanctions on its website, the Treasury’s Office of
Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, said “the bunkering by
non-US persons of an Iranian vessel that has been
identified as blocked property of an Iranian person …
and the making of related payments for these bunkering
services — risk being designated themselves.”</p>
<p>Last month, the United States blacklisted the
Iranian-operated supertanker Adrian Darya 1 (formerly
Grace-1) and sanctioned its captain.</p>
<p>At the time, the Treasury Under Secretary Sigal
Mandelker warned that “anyone providing support to the
Adrian Darya 1 risks being sanctioned."</p>
<p>The US earlier <a
href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/20/603986/United-States-threat-Iran-supertanker-released-Gibraltar-United-Kingdom">threatened</a> those
potentially assisting the return of the tanker that had
been released by Gibraltar after more than a month of
detention there by Britain.</p>
<p>Four days before the US imposed sanctions on the
tanker, the vessel's Indian captain was approached by
the US State Department, and was asked to either receive
bribe for the vessel or face US sanctions.</p>
<p>A report by <em>The Financial Times</em> <a
href="https://www.ft.com/content/20188064-cefb-11e9-99a4-b5ded7a7fe3f">revealed</a> Wednesday
that the captain received an unusual email from Brian
Hook, the US special representative for Iran at the
Department of State, in this regard.</p>
<p>According to several emails seen by the Financial
Times, Hook wrote to Akhilesh Kumar on August 26 that
the Trump administration was offering him several
million dollars to pilot the ship to a country that
would impound the vessel on behalf of the US. To make
sure the captain did not mistake the email for a scam,
it included an official state department phone number.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on
Thursday described the bribery as "shameful" and an
indication of the US' "ethical, political, and
operation breakdown".</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Earlier this week, Zarif also said the US was setting a
pattern in its policy of baits and threats as he himself
was <a
href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/04/602625/Iran-Zarif-Trump-invite-White-House-meeting-Rand-Paul">invited</a>
to meet with the president at the White House just weeks
before the Trump administration placed sanctions on him.</p>
<p>Hook has emailed or texted roughly a dozen captains in
recent months in an effort to scare mariners into
understanding that helping Iran evade sanctions comes at
a heavy price, the FT report added.</p>
<p>On the same day when the report was released, the
United States imposed sanctions on an Iranian shipping
network – several tankers, companies and insurance firms
-- accusing it of supplying millions of barrels of oil
to Syria.</p>
<p>The US Treasury Department <a
href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/09/04/605342/US-imposes-sanctions-on-Irans-shipping-network">announced
the illegal sanctions</a> on Wednesday on 16 entities,
10 people, including a former Iranian oil minister, and
11 vessels, as Washington continued its campaign of
“maximum pressure” against Tehran and, seeking rise in
tensions in the Middle East region.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>According to an <a
href="https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/iran_advisory_09032019.pdf">OFAC
Advisory</a> released by the US Treasury, the
blacklisted vessels include Adrian Darya 1 (formerly
Grace 1), Destiny, Happiness 1, Sinopa, Devrez,
Delice, Bonita Queen (formerly Kamila), Jasmine
(formerly Emma), Sarak (formerly Rise Destiny), Sobar
(formerly Rise Dignity), Solan (formerly Rise Glory),
and Tour 2.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two Iranian vessels, Bavand and Termeh, had been
stranded for weeks at the Brazilian port of Paranagua
after the country’s state oil company of Petrobras
refused to provide fuel to them for fear of breaching US
sanctions on Iran.</p>
<p><strong>Read more:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/07/30/602214/Iranian-ship-Bavand-Brazil-Termeh">Stranded
Iranian vessel heading back home from Brazil, 2nd
ship to follow</a></li>
</ul>
<p>On July 25, however, Brazil’s highest judicial
authority ordered Petrobras to refuel the ships,
overturning an injunction that had authorized the oil
firm to withhold the service.</p>
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