The logic of power behind the US “pirate” act by arresting ships and selling oil
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release time:2021-06-06 10:30
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Xinhua News Agency
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Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 5th(International Observation) The power logic behind the US “pirate” act by arresting ships and selling oil
Xinhua News Agency reporter
The US media recently reported that the US government seized an oil tanker in the waters of the United Arab Emirates at the beginning of this year and then sold about 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on the tanker for cash. Prior to this, the United States had also intercepted fuel oil shipped to Venezuela and masks shipped to European countries overseas.
For such acts of the United States, the relevant injured countries directly denounced them as “piracy.” Experts pointed out that behind the U.S. bullying tactics to snatch supplies from other countries overseas is the logic of the U.S. dominance and the selfish mentality of giving priority to its own interests. It is the “world view of the United States that has a problem.”
Modern “Pirates”
According to the Associated Press and other media reports, in February this year, the United States seized the Liberian-flaged “Asilias” oil tanker outside the port of Fujairah in the UAE and confiscated about 2 million barrels of crude oil on board. The US stated that the shipper tried to conceal the ownership of this batch of crude oil, labeling it as “Basra Light Crude Oil” produced in Iraq. The US believed that this batch of crude oil was related to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Since the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was identified by the United States as a “terrorist organization” in 2019, the United States confiscated the crude oil in accordance with its domestic “anti-terrorism law.”
According to the report, the US brought the “Acileas” back to Houston and sold 2 million barrels of oil at a price of 110 million U.S. dollars. This sum is currently managed by a third party. According to a report recently released by the US Energy Information Administration, the United States “imported” more than 1 million barrels of crude oil from Iran in March this year. Some analysts believe that this “import” is exactly what the US confiscated in February.
A spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the US’s interception of crude oil a “piracy” in February this year, accusing it of “it is very shameful for the United States to carry out such behavior under false pretexts.” The spokesperson said that the crude oil comes from the Iranian private sector and has nothing to do with the government.
After the report of the U.S. Energy Information Administration was released, Iranian officials stated that Iran had no knowledge of the details of the matter and did not have any data on American imports of Iranian oil. However, according to its domestic law, the U.S. “has no longer purchased oil from Iran since the Clinton period.” Up”.
Repeated crimes
Iranian analyst Majid Abbas pointed out that this is not the first time the United States has committed such acts. The United States has violated international law many times in recent years and has not considered the harm caused by its “pirate” actions to other countries.
In August last year, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that the U.S. intercepted four oil tankers carrying Iranian fuel to Venezuela and confiscated nearly 1.12 million barrels of fuel on the tankers. According to a report from the US Energy Information Administration, this batch of fuel was “imported” to the United States in October last year. According to reports, this batch of fuel has been sold for 40 million US dollars last year.
Venezuelan President Maduro later severely criticized the US move in a speech. He said that the United States intercepted oil tankers transporting gasoline to Venezuela at a time when Venezuela was short of gasoline. “This is a naked crime and piracy.”
After the new crown epidemic began to spread globally last year, the United States rushed to purchase or intercepted anti-epidemic materials ordered by other countries at high prices, which caused strong dissatisfaction with relevant countries. Jean Rotner, chairman of the French Greater Eastern Region Council, once angrily accused: “The Americans appeared directly on the airport runway and bought the goods we ordered at three to four times the price with cash. We have to fight for this. “Although the batch of masks he mentioned was not stolen in the end, he said: “There is indeed such a phenomenon on the tarmac.”
The German media also reported in April last year that the 200,000 masks ordered by Germany at that time were “cut off” by the United States in Bangkok, Thailand. The German side had already paid at that time, but the masks were still purchased by the United States at a higher price. Andreas Geisel, the Minister of the Interior of the City of Berlin, accused the US of “modern piracy”.
“There is a problem with the world view”
Analysts pointed out that the confiscation of Iranian oil on the grounds of “anti-terrorism laws” reflects the long-standing U.S. habit of implementing “long-arm jurisdiction” over domestic laws and international rules. The purpose is to maintain the U.S.’s global hegemony and status. Political and economic interests. Regardless of the epidemic situation in other countries, the wanton “cutting” of the anti-epidemic materials ordered by other countries reflects the hegemony and selfishness of the United States to place its own interests above the interests of other countries and the common interests of the international community.
The Iranian National News Agency published an article commenting that during the former US President Trump’s administration, due to Trump’s disregard of multilateralism and international law, it is not difficult to understand that such acts of robbery occurred. However, the new US President Biden once again took office in January this year. The occurrence of such a thing is very worrying. This shows that the Biden administration is still pursuing Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.
Hamid Wafae, director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Tehran in Iran, said that some commentators believe that the Biden administration’s foreign policy will be far from the Trump-era strategy, but Washington’s attitude in recent months shows that the US’s problem is not politicians. The personal problem is “the problem of the worldview of this country”. He called on the international community to pay attention to the recent US “piracy” and play an active role through relevant international channels to prevent such illegal acts from occurring. (Participating reporters: Liu Pinran, Wang Shoubao, Gao Wencheng, Xu Ye)