Iran confiscates US oil cargo
Iran will unload about $50 million worth of crude owned by the US from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker following a Tehran court order in favor of Iranian patients of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
Advantage Sweet is a Suezmax crude tanker that had been chartered by US firm Chevron and was seized in April 2023 by Iran’s Army following a collision with an Iranian boat, which resulted in the injury and missing of a number of the Iranian crew members. The tanker had attempted to flee the scene in serious breach of international laws and regulations.
The unloading of the cargo follows a Tehran court order in favor of Iranian patients of Epidermolysis Bullosa or butterfly patients, a rare skin disease, who had 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.
They said that the Western sanctions, especially those by the US, have prevented the Swedish company, Mölnlycke Health Care, from selling medicines to Iran.
The United States reinstated its sanctions against Iran in May 2018 after leaving a United Nations-endorsed nuclear agreement with Iran and five other countries.
Since then, Mölnlycke Health Care has stopped selling pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, including special bandages for EB patients, to Iranian companies, citing the unilateral US sanctions.
The move has deprived EB patients of essential medical items, caused the deaths of many of them, and inflicted serious physical injuries such as amputation of some of the patients.