The Bella, Bering, Luna and Pandi ships, allegedly “captured” for bringing Iranian gasoline to Venezuela, have as frequent ports Iran’s main enemy countries.
41 days after the judge of the District of Columbia, USA, James E. Boasberg, issued an order to seize the four vessels, the Department of Justice announced on Friday that the seizure had been carried out and previously international agencies advanced reports.
Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela, Hojat Soltani, denied the first information published by EFE: “Another lie and psychological warfare from the US propaganda machine.” The ships are not Iranian, and neither the owner nor its flag has anything to do with Iran. ”
While the president of Iran, Hasan Rohaní, denounced this Saturday that the United States government lied about the seizure in international waters of four oil tankers that were presumed destined for Venezuela. “Neither the tankers nor their flags were Iranian,” he remarked.
An investigation by @latablablog with data from the AIS (Automatic Identification System) shows with certainty that two tankers left the Emirates and one from Israel, which is now heading to the UK. The Pandi does not register a port of departure.
The Pandi however was reported docked in the port of Sharjah, UAE, on 29APR where it was 16 days old, according to Vesselfinder. The Bering departed from that same port on APR 19, while the Bella departed from Fujairah, also in the Emirates, on APR 11. The latter according to MarineTraffic.
The Chemical Luna departed Ashdod, Israel on AUG 07 to Liverpool, UK, says Marine Traffic. According to the website of the Israeli port authority, it arrived at that port on JUL 31. On the flag they diverge: according to MarineTraffic it is from Malta, Israel from Panama and Vesselfinder from Liberia.
Vesselfinder reports the presence of Chemical Luna in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ports of Furaihaj on March 30 and April 20, and that of Sharjah on May 15. No data links it to Iranian ports.
It is shock that the “detention” of the ships – which left Israel and the United Arab Emirates – “coincided” with the announcement, made on Thursday by President Trump, of the peace agreement and the restoration of diplomatic relations between those two nations.
Tehran and Caracas have not released information on new agreements about of gasoline shipment (the last one was last May when the 5 Iranian ships arrived safely on the Venezuelan coast after receiving threats from White House spokesmen).
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Credit @latablablog
