A Greek shipping company has admitted smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine, US court documents unsealed on Thursday showed.
The case against Empire Navigation, which faces three years of probation under the plea agreement, marks the first public acknowledgement by US prosecutors that the US seized some one million barrels of oil from the tanker Suez Rajan.
The saga surrounding the ship escalated tensions between the US and Iran even as they work towards a trade of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets in South Korea for the release of five Iranian-American dual citizens held in Tehran.
The Suez Rajan, previously owned by California-based Oaktree Capital Management, had been suspected of taking Iranian oil that was under sanctions to a client in Asia in a 2022 investigation by the campaign group United Against a Nuclear Iran.
Oaktree, which has repeatedly declined to discuss the case, sold the vessel fully to Empire in late May.
The vessel was unable to unload its cargo and sailed on towards the US, where it stayed for a period of time, possibly as authorities decided on a course of action.
The court filings also shed light on the covert world of Iranian crude oil smuggling in the face of western sanctions since the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal – an operation that has only grown in scale this year.
The US and its allies have been seizing Iranian oil cargos since 2019.
That has led to a series of attacks in the Middle East attributed to Iran, as well as ship seizures by Iranian military and paramilitary forces that threaten global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which 20 per cent of the world's oil passes.
The unsealed court papers relied on satellite images, as well as documents, to show that the Suez Rajan sought to mask its loading of Iranian crude oil from one tanker by trying to claim it came from another tanker.
For months, the ship sat in the South China Sea off the north-east coast of Singapore before suddenly sailing for the Texas coast without explanation.
The vessel discharged its cargo to another tanker, which released its oil in Houston in recent days. The court documents seen by AP on Thursday confirm the US government seized the oil.
A lawyer for Empire Navigation, Apostolos Tourkantonis, pleaded guilty on its behalf to a single charge of breaching the sanctions on Iran. Empire, based in Athens, did not immediately respond to a request for comment early on Thursday.
The US Treasury has said Iran’s oil smuggling revenue supports the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that operates across the Middle East.
The IRGC is suspected to be closely involved in the trade, involving hundreds of vessels that try to mask their movements and can hide their ownership through foreign shell companies.
But the Suez Rajan case was unique because it was owned by Oaktree Capital Management at the time of the transfer. That is likely to have given American prosecutors an edge in pursuing the case.
Since the Suez Rajan went to America, Iran has seized two tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, including one with cargo for the US oil company Chevron.
In July, the senior commander of the IRGC’s naval arm threatened further action against anyone offloading the Suez Rajan, with state media linking the recent seizures to the cargo’s fate.
Iran has continued to make threats over the seizure and summoned a Swiss diplomat in Tehran to express its anger. Switzerland has looked after US interests in Iran since the 1979 US embassy takeover and hostage crisis.
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
Dunki
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RESULT
Uruguay 3 Russia 0
Uruguay: Suárez (10'), Cheryshev (23' og), Cavani (90')
Russia: Smolnikov (Red card: 36')
Man of the match: Diego Godin (Uruguay)
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
Moonfall
Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
Rating: 3/5
