US Senator Richard Blumenthal has urged a shipping company to recall a tanker carrying nearly 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel bound for the United States, warning that delivering the fuel would violate US law.

Axar.az reports that Blumenthal made the appeal in a post on X, saying he was sending a “sledgehammer message” to shipping companies transporting Russian diesel to US ports.

“Reverse course while there’s still time,” the senator wrote, adding that delivering the fuel would violate a 2022 law banning imports of Russian fuel.

In a letter addressed to Athanasios Martinos, director of Greek shipping company Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited (EASTMED), Blumenthal said the Maltese-flagged tanker Agioi Fanendes departed a Russian port on October 22 carrying nearly 40,000 metric tons of diesel.

According to the letter, as of October 24, the vessel had declared the Port of New York and New Jersey as its destination, with an expected arrival date of November 7.

Blumenthal called on the company to recall the tanker if it intended to unload the Russian diesel at a US port and to refrain from future transactions involving Russian diesel.

The senator cited the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, signed by then-President Joe Biden in 2022, which prohibits imports of Russian products classified under Chapter 27 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, including diesel.

Blumenthal also addressed US Treasury Department General License No. 135, which he said had been cited as authorization for transactions involving Russian diesel exports. He argued that the license could not override federal law and said only Congress could make such a transaction legally valid.