...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
as well as their vessels, days after a court convicted them for carrying out an unauthorized ship-to-ship petroleum transfer in Indonesian waters four months ago, the coasties said Saturday.
The Panama-flagged MT Freya and the Iranian-flagged MT Horse crude-oil tankers set sail from Indonesian waters with both captains aboard, Adm. Aan Kurni, the commander of Indonesia’s Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), told BenarNews.
"They returned to their home countries on Friday," he said.
A Bakamla ship, the KN Pulau Dana-323, escorted the foreign tankers and their captains as they departed Indonesian waters from Batu Ampar port, in Batam Island, Aan said.
On Tuesday, a court in Batam handed suspended sentences of one year each to Chinese national Chen Yo Qun, captain of the Freya, and Mehdi Monghasemjahromi, captain of the Horse, after finding them guilty of violating Indonesia’s navigational rules by conducting an oil transfer at sea without a permit in late January.
The Indonesian coasties seized the ships and their crews after catching them carrying out the operation in waters off West Kalimantan, an Indonesian province on Borneo Island.
The two captains will not have to serve time in prison unless they are caught committing a similar offense during the next two years, the court ruled on May 25.
The court also ordered Captain Chen to pay a fine of 2 billion rupiah (U.S. $140,000) for dumping oil in territorial waters.
On Jan. 24, Bakamla intercepted the two foreign ships after detecting that the tankers’ identification systems were turned off near West Kalimantan, and discovered that an illegal oil transfer was under way, authorities said then.
In February, Indonesian government officials said that the violations committed by both tankers included transferring oil ship-to-ship, concealing the vessels’ origin, turning off their automatic identification systems (AIS), and spilling oil.
Thirty-six Iranian nationals crewed the Horse, while 25 Chinese nationals crewed the Freya, officials said. The Panama-flagged tanker is owned and managed by a firm listed as the Shanghai Future Ship Management Co., according to information from MarineTraffic.com.
"We were not involved in the court’s decision. What is clear is that the ships were found guilty, and it was the court’s decision that allowed them to return home," Aan, the coasties chief, said.
Iran’s state-run Islamic Theocratic
RepublicNews Agency (IRNA) confirmed on Saturday that the MT Horse, which is owned by the National Iranian Tanker Co., was released Friday after 125 days in Indonesian custody.
"The tanker resumed its mission and will return home once their mission is complete," IRNA said.
An Indonesian attorney for Monghasemjahromi, Elindo Saragih, confirmed that his client had departed the country.
"They left Indonesia yesterday," he said.
Iran has been accused in recent years of violating U.S. sanctions on its oil exports by hiding the international movements of its tankers through turning off their automatic identification systems.
Bakamla said it had become more vigilant after a Chinese survey ship went through Indonesia’s exclusive economic in January with its AIS turned off.