FUNAFUTI (T/TELEGRAPH) - The small South Pacific island nation Tuvalu has been told by the US to stop reflagging Iranian oil tankers and warned its government of the risks of breaking US sanctions.
The European Union banned Iranian oil imports as well as providing insurance for vessels carrying Iranian oil on July 1, and the US has new economic sanctions that have curbed Iranian oil imports by most other major nations.
Reflagging ships masks their ownership, which could make it easier for Iran to obtain insurance and financing for the cargoes, as well as find buyers for the shipments without attracting attention from the US and European Union.
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) changed the names and flags of many of its oil tankers ahead of the EU ban, part of sweeping economic measures aimed at pressuring Tehran to end its nuclear program.
As many as 22 ships owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company have been registered in Tuvalu, said Howard Berman, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
"This has the effect of assisting the Iranian regime in evading US and EU sanctions and generating additional revenues for its nuclear weapons program and its support for international terrorism," Berman said in a letter to Tuvalu Prime Minister Willy Telavi.