US lawmakers question if Iranian ‘intimidation effort’ delaying seized oil transfer

News Snapshot:

August 16, 2023 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...