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U.S. Commends Iran For Intercepting Iraqi Oil Tanker
WASHINGTON (News Agencies) – Iran seized a tanker carrying contraband Iraqi oil, according to authorities in Tehran, who added that they seized the Iraqi oil tanker in the Gulf.
The Honduras-registered vessel, Al-Masru, was smuggling 2,500 tons of oil out of Iraq when it was intercepted and impounded last Saturday.
Iraq is banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions from selling oil on the world market except for shipments that have been sanctioned under the U.N.-administered oil-for-food deal. So far, there has been no official word from Iraq on the seizure.
State Department spokesman James Rubin said Washington could not immediately confirm the report. "I'm not aware that we have independent confirmation at this time but if the reports are true, we are pleased to see that Iran is taking measures against this illegal traffic," said Rubin.
The reported seizure, the first by Iran, comes as the United States steps up its efforts to renew a dialogue with the Islamic Republic including a lifting of certain sanctions announced last month by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Washington has complained in the past that oil tankers regularly and increasingly use Iranian waters to smuggle petroleum out of Iraq in violation of U.N. sanctions and called for action to be taken to counter it.
"We have previously expressed our concern about the high level of smuggling through the Persian Gulf," Rubin said. "In the past, Iran has taken measures to halt smuggling along its coast and we hope this is an indication they intend to do so vigorously again.” He did not comment on whether the U.S. believed the reported seizure was a response to the easing of sanctions.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hamid-Reza Asefi, said in Tehran that the ship was registered in Honduras and was carrying 2,500 tons of Iraqi oil. He said it had been boarded because "It is our policy to forbid and prevent all smuggling. It is also a sign of Iran's respect for the resolutions of the U.N."
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, said in February that the United States had "approached" Iran about the spiraling amount of illegal Iraqi oil passing through the Gulf. The value of Iraqi oil smuggled through Iranian waters could total between $500 million and $1 billion in 2000 if market prices stay high, U.S. officials say.
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