US Warns Ship Owners About Storing Iranian Oil

The Donald Trump administration will soon warn ship owners, port authorities, and insurance companies about storing Iranian oil and urge them to avoid violating US sanctions against Tehran.

According to Reuters news agency, David Peyman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Combating Financial Threats and Sanctions, announced this on Monday, March 10.

Mr. Peyman said at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies conference: “We target and list anyone who stores Iranian oil, petrochemical products, and refined fuel in a manner that violates US sanctions, regardless of who they are.”

He also stated that the United States is demanding that ship captains photograph anyone involved in transferring sanctioned oil from one vessel to another and provide the images to the US government.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State further said that cargo ships that turn off their tracking equipment to evade US sanctions will also be warned.

The Donald Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal between six world powers and Iran on May 8 of last year and imposed severe sanctions on Tehran.

These sanctions have severely affected Iranian oil exports, reducing the country’s oil sales from 2.5 million barrels per day before the sanctions to approximately 300,000 barrels per day.

Various reports indicate that Iran is storing its oil in tankers and some Chinese storage facilities to sell it when an opportunity arises.

Using oil tankers that turn off their tracking systems to avoid detection is another method Iran has adopted to deliver its oil to some remaining customers.

Currently, China continues to import oil from Iran despite US sanctions against Tehran. For this reason, the Donald Trump administration sanctioned some units of the Chinese COSCO shipping company in September of last year for illegal oil imports.

Source: Radio Farda