US says it’s taken possession of a Boeing 747 that Iran sold to a Venezuelan firm
The U.S. government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane that officials say was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm in violation of American export control laws. The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of. The plane had earlier been transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air — which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force — to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a state-owned firm that had previously been sanctioned by the United States. Officials said the sale, done without U.S. government authorization, violated export control laws and also improperly benefited Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Mahan Air has for years been subject to US government sanctions. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that the full force of US laws deny hostile state actors the means to engage in malign activities that threaten our national security,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the department’s national security division, said. The department said the plane would now be “prepared for disposition,” though it did not elaborate. Venezuela’s government on Monday called the transfer a “shameful rapacious operation” and vowed to “take all actions to restore justice and achieve the restitution of the aircraft to its legitimate owner.” Its statement did not provide details of next steps.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-02-13/unaligned/us-says-it2019s-taken-possession-of-a-boeing-747-that-iran-sold-to-a-venezuelan-firm
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US says it’s taken possession of a Boeing 747 that Iran sold to a Venezuelan firm
The U.S. government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane that officials say was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm in violation of American export control laws. The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of. The plane had earlier been transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air — which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force — to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a state-owned firm that had previously been sanctioned by the United States. Officials said the sale, done without U.S. government authorization, violated export control laws and also improperly benefited Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Mahan Air has for years been subject to US government sanctions. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that the full force of US laws deny hostile state actors the means to engage in malign activities that threaten our national security,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the department’s national security division, said. The department said the plane would now be “prepared for disposition,” though it did not elaborate. Venezuela’s government on Monday called the transfer a “shameful rapacious operation” and vowed to “take all actions to restore justice and achieve the restitution of the aircraft to its legitimate owner.” Its statement did not provide details of next steps.<br/>
