The Justice Department has announced the seizure and civil-asset forfeiture of the largest illegal weapons and oil cache they’ve ever intercepted from Iranian vessels. The unbelievable forfeiture revealed on December 7th included 1.1 million barrels of Iranian petroleum products subject to embargo and seized en route to Venezuela as well as 171 surface-to-air missiles, and eight anti-tank missiles destined for Houthi terrorist militants in Yemen to help them carry out Iran’s deadly proxy war against Saudi Arabia.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice,
“The U.S. government sold the seized petroleum products pursuant to a court order. The net proceeds of that sale, $26,681,397.67 before interest, may be directed, in whole or in part, to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund now that the case has concluded.”
“The actions of the United States in these two cases strike a resounding blow to the Government of Iran and to the criminal networks supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to use all available tools to combat the threats posed by terrorist organizations and all those who seek to harm the United States and its allies.”
Starving Iran of Oil Revenue, and Keeping Weapons Out of Yemen
On July 2, 2020, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in the District of Columbia seeking to forfeit all petroleum-product cargo aboard four foreign-flagged oil tankers seized en route to Venezuela. The complaint alleged that the petroleum originated in Iran, and the sale of that petroleum benefitted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a sanctioned Iranian entity.
“On Oct. 1, 2021, the court granted the government’s motion for default judgment and entered an order of forfeiture. In its opinion, the court found that the United States had sufficiently alleged that the petroleum products provided a source of influence over the IRGC because those properties were critical to furthering the affairs of the terrorist group’s enterprise.”
The most recent UN Death toll puts the total dead in Iran’s Yemen proxy war at about 233,000 since 2014,
“The war had already caused an estimated 233,000 deaths, including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food, health services and infrastructure”, it said.
“Hostilities have directly caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties; 3,153 child deaths and 5,660 children were verified in the first five years of the conflict, and 1,500 civilian casualties were reported in the first nine months of 2020.”
“These two cases demonstrate that not only can we disrupt the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ability to finance its operations through petroleum sales, but we can also thwart its ability to use the proceeds of such sales to arm its terrorist proxies and export terrorism abroad,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “Given our expertise and special statutory authority, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is uniquely positioned to support its law enforcement partners in such terrorism cases. We are deeply committed to this mission.”
“The combined efforts of the FBI and our partners to seize missiles and over a million barrels of petroleum demonstrate our commitment to defend against foreign terrorist organizations and enforce U.S. sanctions,” said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “The Government of Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism has left innocent victims in its wake and its attempts to support regimes dangerous to the United States and our allies will be met with the full force of the law. The FBI has a continued resolve to hold the Government of Iran accountable for its illegal actions, and we urge anyone with information about violations of sanctions on Iran to contact the FBI.”
By keeping these weapons out of Yemen, and starving the single largest sponsor of global terrorism of their precious illegal oil revenue, these joint actions by the DoJ and the US Navy are undoubtedly saving tens of thousands of lives.
