US lawmaker condemns Tuvaluan Iranian reflagging

The South Pacific pounds the serpentine coastline of Funafuti Atoll, 19 February 2004, home to nearly half of Tuvalu's entire population of 11,500, as king tides threaten to inundate the tiny island nation. Leaders of small Pacific island states on 04 December 2007 demanded that a key climate change conference in Bali do more than talk, calling for urgent action to stop sea levels from rising due to global warming

Tuvalu: Up to 22 Iranian ships have been registered in the South Pacific nation, according to prominent Democrat Howard Berman.

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News Wires

 10 July 2012 02:16 GMT

A prominent US lawmaker has asked the small South Pacific island nation Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iranian oil tankers and warned its government of the risks of running afoul of US sanctions.

The European Union banned Iranian oil imports as well as providing insurance for vessels carrying Iranian oil on 1 July, and the United States has new economic sanctions that have curbed Iranian oil imports by most other major nations, Reuters reported.

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 United States and European Union.

The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) changed the names and flags of many of…

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