Iran will use $50 million worth of crude it seized from the U.S. to help those who were hurt by U.S. sanctions.
Last year, Iran’s navy seized the ship Advantage Sweet which had been chartered to carry oil for Chevron from Kuwait to Tehran.
A court in Tehran ordered that the seizure of the oil could be used to help patients of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare skin disease. The patients had reportedly “filed a lawsuit against the ‘severe physical and mental harm’ caused by the non-provision of Swedish-made medicine, which is said to be caused by US sanctions according to the lawsuit.”
This is a little taste-of-your-own-medicine for the U.S., which advocates the seizure of foreign property for political reasons all the time. The U.S. is currently pressuring France to seize assets owned by Russians to aid in support for Ukraine but French President Macron refuses. “We are not in favor of doing things forbidden in international law and opening a debate that I believe would weaken Europe,” Macron said.
