The Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan, carrying as much as one million barrels of sanctioned Iranian oil, is starting to unload its cargo to a transport tanker off the coast of Galveston, the Associated Press reports.
The action ends months of saga over the oil: after setting sail from a Persian Gulf port in February 2022, the Biden Administration confiscated the tanker’s suspected cargo, Iranian oil under sanction, via a court order that was believed to have been issued as the tanker sat for months in the South China Sea off Singapore as the source of the oil was determined.
Iranian officials continue to try to distribute its oil by hiding points of origin on transit documents. Iran, however, does not recognize the authority of the sanctions, put in place to punish Iran for continuing its nuclear research program, and it claims ownership of the cargo. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard issued a threat against the facilities and companies unloading and selling the oil, saying they “should expect to be struck back.”