Iranian Oil Tanker Blacklisted by EU
During a meeting in Brussels on Thursday 12 February, members of European Union decided to sanction again the Iranian Oil Tanker Company which is transporting oil around the globe.
The EU's second-highest court ruled last July there were no grounds to blacklist the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), Iran's biggest tanker firm, after it contested the designation.
Hence the EU moved to re-impose sanctions on tighter legal grounds, says a Reuters report. The regulation will be published in the EU's Official Journal on Saturday.
NITC - a major transporter of Iran's oil - contested the EU's original blacklisting last year, arguing that the firm is privately owned by Iranian pension funds. It has denied any links with the Iranian government or with the Revolutionary Guards.
A copy of an EU letter to the NITC's lawyers, seen by Reuters, said the EU disagreed with their arguments that the NITC did not provide financial support to the government of Iran and therefore should not be sanctioned.
The sanctions - originally imposed in 2012 over Tehran's disputed nuclear program - prohibited any trade between the EU, its companies and citizens, and the NITC, including the provision of services such as insurance or banking.
