Iranian Foreign Ministry Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed allegations by the Trump administration about a US seizure of four Iranian oil tankers with fuel bound for Venezuela.
In a tweet on Saturday, the top Iranian diplomat stressed that the vessels were not Iranian-flagged, describing the attack on them as “act of piracy”.
“‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ have their own judges and courts now. Sadly for them, stolen booty wasn’t Iran’s. Fuel was sold F.O.B. [freight on board] Persian Gulf. Ship and flag weren’t ours either,” Zarif tweeted, referring to a shipping expression used to indicate when liability and ownership of goods is transferred from a seller to a buyer.
The diplomat added that the “hollow and cheap propaganda” would not cover up the White House’s “miserable failure” to pass a United Nation Security Council draft resolution aiming to extend an arms embargo against Iran, set to expire in October.
“Pirates of the Caribbean” have their own judges and courts now.
Sadly for them, stolen booty wasn’t Iran’s. Fuel was sold F.O.B. Persian Gulf. Ship and flag weren’t ours either.
Hollow, cheap propaganda doesn’t deflect from miserable failure of US diplomatic malpractice at UN.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 15, 2020
On Friday, the UNSC rejected a resolution introduced by the Trump White House, to indefinitely extend a weapons embargo on Iran envisioned in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal ahead of its expiration on 18 October. The UNSC noted that the US resolution did not receive the required number of votes to be adopted.
Out of the 15 UNSC member states, the resolution was endorsed only by the US and the Dominicans, and objected by Russia and China, while 11 countries abstained.
Source: Agencies
