Iran Slams American ‘Act of Piracy’ as Oil Shipment Bound For China Illegally Seized at Sea

Iran has protested a move by the U.S. to sell Iranian oil which was captured by the U.S. Navy in international waters. The oil was being transferred aboard the Liberian-flagged tanker Achilleas and was bound for a port in China - a leading client for Iranian oil. With Iran facing no sanctions from the United Nations there remains no legal restriction on its ability to import oil, with the U.S. threatening the country’s access to international maritime commons seemingly without legal pretext. While the U.S. has placed unilateral economic sanctions against Iran, the jurisdiction of American law does not cover international waters which makes its move to impose its domestic laws at sea a potentially dangerous precedent for freedom of navigation. This was far from the first such incident, which in the past has threatened not only Iranian oil exports by also North Korean merchant shipping, with the ship Wise Honest seized by the U.S. Navy and subsequently sold with the funds appropriated by the U.S. government. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh stated regarding the American seizure of its oil shipment: “This shipment does not belong to the Iranian government. It belongs to the private sector… It is very unfortunate that such an act of piracy is happening under the new U.S. administration ... a solution should be found to stop such acts of piracy by anyone for any reason.” The U.S. has placed Iran under considerable economic pressure since 2018 in order to gain concessions in the form of a change in the country’s foreign policy and restrictions on the country’s development of a ballistic missile deterrent. The new Joe Biden administration has notable drawn a hard line regarding Washington’s possible return to an agreement with Iran, under which economic sanctions could be loosened in exchange for limited Iranian concessions relating to its nuclear activities.