Iranian oil tankers seized by U.S. forces in the Gulf were using forged Iraqi documents, Iraq’s oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani has reported.

“We received some verbal inquiries about oil tankers being detained in the Gulf by U.S. naval forces carrying Iraqi shipping manifests,” the oil minister said on state television late on Sunday.

“It turned out that these tankers were Iranian … and were using forged Iraqi documents. We explained this to the relevant authorities with complete transparency and they also confirmed this.”

The Trump administration has restored “maximum pressure” in a bid to eliminate its oil export revenue in order to slow Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched close to weapon-grade level has increased more than 50% over the last three months. Iran ramped up production of uranium enriched to 60% levels of purity since November in defiance to being censured by the IAEA. That material can quickly be upgraded to weapon-grade levels, a concern long held by the US, Europe and Israel despite Iran’s repeated denials that its nuclear development is for military use. According to the IAEA, as of Feb. 8, Iran had 274.8 kilograms (605.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 92.5 kilograms (203.9 pounds) since the IAEA’slast report in November.

“The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon state to produce such material, is of serious concern,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi wrote in the 14-page report seen by Bloomberg.

Trump says he would “prefer” a new nuclear accord, though Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out talks with Washington at a time when it has intensified its maximum pressure strategy on the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic began enriching uranium close to the level needed for nuclear bombs in 2021, three years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA nuclear deal of 2015.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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