EU re-imposes sanctions on Iran oil tanker firm

European Union governments agreed on Thursday to put the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), Iran's biggest tanker firm, back on a list of sanctioned firms.

The move follows a failed legal attempt by the Iranian regime in a London Court on Monday, February 10, to stop the European Union from re-imposing the sanctions over its nuclear programme.

NITC vessels are known to engage in name and flagging changes, ship-to-ship oil transfers and blending of Iranian oil in order to disguise the origins of its crude and circumvent international sanctions.

Despite its attempts to conceal the identity and whereabouts of its vessels, the Iranian regime’s oil smuggling tactics are becoming increasingly known and accounted for.

Tunisian officials raised alarm in August 2013 about some NITC tankers using Tanzanian identification codes. They asked port authorities worldwide to take stern measures against the tankers.

After Tunisia had ‘nullified contract with the 36 Iranian tankers to avoid falling victim with the international community’, at least three ships owned by NITC continued to emit the Tanzanian code.

The EU's second-highest court ruled last July there were no grounds to blacklist the NITC after it contested the designation, but the EU moved to re-impose sanctions on tighter legal grounds.

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