US asks Argentina to seize Venezuelan plane | The most important news and analysis in Latin America | D.W.

The United States asked Argentina on Tuesday (08.02.2022) to seize the Boeing 747 retained in its territory, pointing out that “laws were violated” when the plane was sold by the Iranian airline Mahan Air, which is under sanctions, to Venezuela .

The Boeing 747 cargo plane of the Venezuelan company Emstrasur, with five Iranian and 14 Venezuelan crew members, has been immobilized at the Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires since it arrived on June 8 from Mexico, with a shipment of auto parts following having tried without successfully enter Uruguay.

On July 19, a court in the District of Columbia, in the United States, issued an order to seize the plane on the grounds that US “export control laws” were violated.

He alleged an “unauthorized transfer” from Mahan Air (an airline affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), considered a terrorist organization by Washington and under sanctions) to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan Conviasa, also under US Treasury Department sanctions.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate transactions that violate our sanctions and export laws,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement.

It seeks to prevent “sanctioned entities from obtaining access to goods manufactured in the United States or benefiting from their illegal transfer,” said prosecutor Matthew Graves in the same note.

In 2008, the US Department of Commerce issued an order prohibiting Mahan Air from engaging in transactions involving products exported from the United States.

“As alleged in the seizure order, around October 2021, Mahan Air violated the Temporary Denial Order and United States export control laws by transferring custody and control of the Boeing aircraft to Emtrasur without the authorization of the United States government,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The US request to Buenos Aires comes the day following an Argentine judge estimated that there are elements to continue investigating seven of the plane’s crew members (four Iranians and three Venezuelans). The remaining 12 were allowed to leave the country.

gs (afp, app)