How a Boeing 747 Plane Ended up Being Illegally Sold in Venezuela
The US government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane from a Venezuelan firm and will now try to figure out how it got there.
US Demands Seizure of Venezuelan Plane Grounded in Argentina
The US government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane from a Venezuelan firm and will now try to figure out how it got there.
Officials think the plane was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm in violation of American export control laws.
The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of.
Violations of Export Control Laws and Support for Iran's Revolutionary Guard
The plane had earlier been transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air — which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force — to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a state-owned firm that had previously been sanctioned by the United States.
Officials said the sale, done without US government authorization, violated export control laws and also improperly benefited Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Mahan Air has for years been subject to US government restrictions on its business.
Legal Actions and Condemnations
The plane was detained in June 2022 by Argentine law enforcement, and US officials moved several weeks later to take possession of it. Argentina officially transferred custody of the plane to the US on Sunday, officials said.
On Sunday, members of a Venezuelan-led, left-leaning alliance condemned Argentina for its role in the plane being seized by the US, characterizing the actions as “theft.” The Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America — Peoples’ Trade Treaty argued that the actions violate international law.
The alliance was created in 2004 by Venezuela and Cuba in a bid to counter U.S. influence in the region. Nicaragua, Bolivia, and some Caribbean nations are among its current members.
