Iranian Shipping Line Evades US Blacklist
Steve Stecklow of The Wall Street Journal reports that Iran's state shipping company has changed the names and ownership of most of its vessels to evade U.S. sanctions. The Treasury Department has yet to update the blacklist that U.S. companies use to verify they are in compliance, according to a new report.
As a result, some firms are at risk of doing business with the company, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, despite a ban that has been in place since 2008, says the report by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a Washington-based nonprofit watchdog.
The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of some of Washington's sanctions, which are aimed at pressuring the regime in Tehran not to build nuclear weapons—something Iran denies it is doing.
OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin said his agency "deliberates carefully about the timing of its public designations," adding, "We may choose to delay a public identification to allow for additional surveillance or to secure cooperation with foreign allies." Mr. Szubin also said the Iranian company's actions signaled the sanctions were having an effect. "Since its designation [by the Treasury], IRISL has taken a number of steps to mask its commercial activities and disguise the ownership of its ships. IRISL's attempts to deceive third parties are consistent with its past practices, and a measure of the impact that U.S. sanctions have had."
The Treasury Department added IRISL, its vessels and related entities, to a list of blacklisted Iranian companies in September 2008, accusing it of shipping military-related cargo, including a chemical used in missiles, to Iran's defense ministry, through deceptive techniques. IRISL's cargoes are subject to inspection under a U.N. Security Council resolution. Tehran also faces sanctions by the U.N. and the European Union.
The Wisconsin Project report says IRISL has since renamed at least 80 of the 123 vessels in its shipping fleet—often dropping the word "Iran"—but that Treasury's current published list used by U.S. companies continues to include the old names. IRISL's vessels still carry the same unique ship-identification numbers required of all ships, but these numbers don't always appear on cargo documents, the Wisconsin Project reported. The report also states that IRISL, in another apparent sanctions-avoiding technique, has been transferring ownership of its ships to shell companies that don't appear on OFAC's list.
