TEHRAN- The United States confiscated on Monday a Boeing 747 cargo jet operated by Emtrasur, a Venezuelan freight airline, alleging that it has infringed the American export controls.

The aircraft was originally sold by Mahan Air, an Iranian airline sanctioned by the United States, to a Venezuelan company, who subsequently transferred it to Emtrasur. 

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of.

Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary of export enforcement at the Department of Commerce, purportedly said that Mahan Air supported Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah. The airline has denied any ties to the aircraft. 

The seizure has prompted international outcry, with former Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuela’s government criticizing the spurious move. 

Venezuela’s government on Monday called the transfer a “shameful rapacious operation” and vowed to “take all actions to restore justice and achieve the restitution of the aircraft to its legitimate owner.” 

The administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also accused the U.S. and Argentine governments of “collusion” and of violating civil aeronautics regulations “as well as the commercial, civil and political rights” of Emtrasur.

The United States filed a complaint in 2022 saying that Mahan Air’s transfer of the jet to Emtrasur violated federal export control rules, noting that the airline was under severe penalties.

In a similar move, Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kannani strongly denounced such confiscation, calling it “violation of the international laws and regulations by the U.S. officials.”   

At the request of the U.S. officials, the plane was detained in June 2022 by Argentine law enforcement, and U.S. officials moved several weeks later to take possession of it. Argentina officially transferred custody of the plane to the U.S. on Sunday, officials said.

In 2022, Kanaani said in a statement that the five Iranian nationals were released after 129 days of diplomatic, legal, and consular efforts by Iran and Venezuela.

The spokesman asserted that an investigative judge in Argentina had ultimately determined that the documents and evidence provided by the plaintiffs, namely DAIA (the umbrella organization of Argentina's Jewish community) and two Zionist members of the Argentinean parliament, were invalid and unreliable. The judge had also ordered the release of the Iranian crew of the plane by lifting the travel ban.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the United States of attempting to “steal a huge, sophisticated cargo jet from us.”

Pilot Gholamreza Ghasemi, one of the Iranians previously barred from leaving, was forced to land his Boeing 747 cargo plane in Argentina on June 8, 2022 after arriving from Mexico with a supply of auto parts and trying in vain to enter Uruguay.

In February, Kanaani showed harsh reaction to the U.S. threat to re-impose sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, considering it illegal under international law and the UN Charter.

He added that the U.S.’s instrumental use of sanctions as a weapon to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations.

“Resorting to such measures is tantamount to direct intervention in the internal affairs of countries and a violation of the United Nations Charter,” he added.

Venezuela and Iran, who inked a 20-year cooperation agreement in June, are both subject to harsh U.S. sanctions.