On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced it had discovered a scheme involving multiple parties affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, in which Iranian oil was covertly shipped to Venezuela, enabling the IRGC to reap profits from petroleum sales that “support the IRGC’s full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad.”
The DOJ named “all petroleum-product cargo aboard the Bella with international maritime organization (IMO) number 9208124, the Bering with IMO number 9149225, the Pandi with IMO number 9105073, and the Luna with IMO number 9208100,” saying it was subject to forfeiture based on the terrorism forfeiture statute.
The DOJ continued, “There are approximately 302,502 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Bella, approximately 302,522 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Bering, approximately 259,700 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Luna, and approximately 298,484 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Pandi. United States District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a warrant to seize all Iranian gasoline on these four vessels, based on a probable cause showing of forfeitability. The warrant commands the property to be brought to the sole jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.”
The DOJ noted, “A warrant for arrest and civil forfeiture complaint are merely allegations. The burden to prove forfeitability in a civil forfeiture proceeding is upon the government. Funds successfully forfeited based on terrorism authorities are in part directed to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.”
In January, after the U.S. killed IRGC commander Qassim Suleimani, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force, said, as translated by MEMRI, “Even if we attack every U.S. base, kill Trump, and kill his Secretary of Defense [Mark Esper], this would not be enough to avenge the blood of Hajj Qasem (Soleimani.) The blood vengeance for Hajj Qasem should take the form of expelling America’s evil from the region. We should cleanse the region of their accursed presence,” as The Daily Wire reported.
Hajizadeh said that it will “absolutely” happen, adding, “[Trump] cannot threaten the Iranian people, who sacrificed 300,000 martyrs. Who the hell is he to threaten us? He must order many coffins for his soldiers before making any threats.”
MEMRI reported that General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, IRGC Deputy Commander for Coordination, said, “As a result of this event, the U.S. is not safe anywhere in the world – not only in Iran and Iraq, but in the other Islamic countries as well. America has no security anymore. Many young people now have the motivation to attack it. Until now, they would live their lives, and pass right next to America’s nest of spies [embassy] in their country. Starting tomorrow, or even today, they will view this nest of spies differently. They will view the people who come and go there in a different way. The Americans will bring the situation to a point… The pressure America exerts on the Islamic nation will lead the peoples of the Islamic countries to pull them out of their nests of spies and their military bases… I can see that day… They will pull them out and hang them blindfolded from the trees in their cities.”
The State Department released a comprehensive report titled, “Outlaw Regime: A Chronicle of Iran’s Destructive Activities.” In it, the State Department asserted:
The policy President Trump has laid out comes to terms fully with the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not a normal state. Normal states do not attack embassies and military installations in peacetime; fuel terrorist proxies and militias; serve as a sanctuary for terrorists; call for the destruction of Israel and threaten other countries; aid brutal dictators such as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad; proliferate missile technology to dangerous proxies; conduct covert assassinations in other countries; and hold hostage citizens of foreign nations. Normal states do not support terrorism within their armed forces, as Iran has done with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force.
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