Iran tanker: US offers captain millions to hand over ship

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

The US state department has confirmed it offered millions of dollars to the captain of an Iranian oil tanker which is at the centre of a diplomatic row.

Brian Hook, head of the department's Iran Action Group, emailed the captain of the Adrian Darya 1 about sailing it somewhere the US could seize it.

The vessel was suspected of moving oil to Syria, and was temporarily impounded by UK authorities in Gibraltar in July.
...
Mr Kumar ignored the emails. The US then imposed sanctions on him personally when they blacklisted the Adrian Darya 1.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-49589075

---

The Iranian Foreign Minister knows a good hashtag when he sees it:

Link to tweet

"Having failed at piracy, the US resorts to outright blackmail—deliver us Iran’s oil and receive several million dollars or be sanctioned yourself.

Sounds very similar to the Oval Office invitation I received a few weeks back.

It is becoming a pattern.#BTeamGangsters"

'"We have conducted extensive outreach to several ship captains as well as shipping companies," a spokeswoman told AFP news agency' - so they've tried to steal several ships?

[cstanleytech]

1. I suspect they were on their hands and knees doing this because Trump wanted to use it to rally his

moronic base with a "Look upon my power (while ignoring my tiny hands) and bow before me." type rally.

[Cosmocat]

2. Good chance

someone on MSNBC accurately noted that our entire international diplomacy exists of reverse engineering to justify his tweets and statements.

But, as with all things republican, the only things matching their corruption and vile hatred is their laziness and ham handedness, so they can't pull any of it off and as often as not have it blow up in their faces.

[Lucky Luciano]

3. #BTeamGangsters!!! LOL

[MrScorpio]

4. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

[Eugene]

5. That ship's new crew is Iranian. Is it a long stretch to believe Iran picked loyalists

who can't be bought?

This ploy smacks of desperation.

Some additional context...

Source: New York Times

U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Iranian Shipping Network

By Alan Rappeport, Lara Jakes and David E. Sanger
Sept. 4, 2019

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an elaborate shipping network that Iran uses to sell oil, and unveiled a $15 million reward to anyone with information that disrupts the scheme, stepping up its effort to exert pressure on the Iranian economy.

-snip-

The shipping network is run by Rostam Ghasemi, Iran’s former minister of petroleum, and the United States said it has been used to facilitate the flow of money to Hezbollah and the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization even though members of the group have embedded into legitimate parts of the Lebanese government.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/world/middleeast/iran-sanctions-oil-shipping.html

[mahannah]

6. Another poor use of our tax dollars.

[Jake Stern]

7. Just going to come out and say it

I fear someone like Trump having access to the nuclear launch codes FAR more than the mullas.

[BlueMississippi]

8. Straight out of Trump's mob playbook

I'm not surprised

[Lonestarblue]

9. Such bribery is illegal.

Article Two, Section Four of the United States Constitution provides that: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors."

How is the State Department allowing someone to try to bribe a foreign national? Amateur Hour reigns throughout this administration. Why isn’t the media paying more attention to illegality in this administration?

[rpannier]

11. Key part is Conviction

As long as there is no conviction, there is no basis for removal under Article 2

[rpannier]

10. If it had been any other administration from the last half century I'd have considered

But given ill presidente's history of not paying I wouldn't give it more than a quick read

[The_jackalope]

12. "Captain Kumar, I have a message for you from The Don..."

'The Don says you seem like a smart fella. He says that's a nice little tanker you got there. He wants it. It would be a shame if somethin' was to ... happen ... to it. Or to you. If he don't get it, you unnerstand.

The Don has some advice for you.
Take the money.
Or else."

[Bayard]

13. Arrrr....

[oldsoftie]

14. Well, we've routinely offered money for PEOPLE, so this isnt really a surprise.

of course its handled terribly, as per usual

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Brian Hook's next job: the Middle East peace plan

No, seriously:

Kushner's Middle East peace plan drifts further astray as envoy resigns

Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East peace, tasked with working on the “ultimate deal” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is to leave the post, it has been announced.
...
Greenblatt, a real estate lawyer with no experience in diplomacy, began working on the would-be plan in 2017 with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in what the president has said would be the “ultimate deal”.

It was reported on Thursday that a 30 year-old Kushner aide, Avi Berkowitz – who graduated from law school in 2016 and has no Middle East experience, would take over some of Greenblatt’s role, while the state department’s special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, would broaden his responsibilities to include Israel and the Palestinian territories.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/05/kushner-middle-east-peace-plan-jason-greenblatt-envoy-resign

[moondust]

16. How cynical.

Trying to exploit the personal greed/moral weakness of a single individual to get him to betray his shipmates and his country. More evidence of a corrupt Trump administration/Republican Party, many of whom would leap at such an offer.

[GulfCoast66]

17. Sounds like Piracy to me.

Seizure of another nations ship is an act of war I would think.