Two firms controlled by affiliates of Israeli shipping mogul Sammy Ofer have landed at the centre of the US government’s crusade against Iran’s civil nuclear programme.
The US State Department says Associated and the two Ofer units were sanctioned for their respective roles in a September 2010 sale-and-purchase transaction involving a products tanker and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).
“We believe that Tanker Pacific and Ofer Brothers Group failed to exercise due diligence and did not heed publicly available and easily obtainable information that would have indicated that they were dealing with IRISL," the State Department said in a statement today, adding: "The secretary [Clinton] will hold companies accountable when they know or ‘should have known’ they were providing sanctionable goods or services to Iran.”
The US government claims IRISL paid $8.65m for the vessel but has not identified it by name.
The timing of the transactions raised eyebrows given that IRISL was already battling sanctions and heightened scrutiny by watchdogs in the US and European Union .
Equally puzzling was the idea that the state-controlled shipowner would conduct business with a company founded by one of Israel’s wealthiest tycoons. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been an outspoken critic of Israel and a vocal supporter of long-standing policy of refusing to recognise the country as a legitimate state.
As a result of today’s sanctions, Tanker Pacific and Ofer Brothers Group have been barred from securing financing from the Export-Import Bank of the US, from obtaining loans over $10m from US-based financial institutions and from receiving US export licenses.
The State Department says Associated Shipbroking, which “knowingly acted on behalf of an IRISL front company” in the tanker deal, has been prohibited from engaging in US foreign exchange, banking and property transactions.
“By imposing these sanctions, the secretary [Clinton] sends a stern and clear message to companies around the world: those who continue to irresponsibly support Iran's energy sector and help facilitate Iran’s efforts to evade US sanctions will face serious consequences,” the State Department said.
Three other companies hit by US sanctions- Petrochemical Commercial Company International (PCCI) of Jersey and Iran, the Royal Oyster Group of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Speedy Ship of the UAE and Iran- were slapped with similar sanctions for “regularly engaging in deceptive practices in order to ship petrochemical products to Iran”.
State-controlled energy giant Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) was the last company to land on the blacklist and has been prohibited from competing for US government procurement contracts, from securing financing from the Export-Import Bank of the US and from obtaining US export licenses.
The sanctions do not apply to “Pdvsa subsidiaries and do not prohibit the export of crude oil to the United States”.
The Obama administration claims Pdvsa delivered at least two cargoes of reformate to Iran between December 2010 and March 2011, a violation of anti-Iranian initiatives outlined in the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) of 1996. The gasoline additives were believed to have been worth $50m.
In a statement, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg noted: "All [seven] of these companies have engaged in activities related to the supply of refined petroleum products to Iran, including the direct supply of gasoline and related products.”
The State Department says today’s sanctions are the first imposed by the United States for refined-petroleum related activities under the ISA since it was amended by Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (CISADA) of 2010.
The companies named in the State Department’s blacklist did not immediately return calls requesting comment on Tuesday.
Based in Haifa, the Ofer empire oversees a fleet of approximately 300 containerships, bulkers and tankers through affiliates Zim Integrated Shipping, Zodiac Maritime, Ofer Brothers and Tanker Pacific, according to data from Clarksons.
A spokesman for the US State Department would not comment on whether Zim and Zodiac would be impacted by the sanctions.
