         |
NEWS | Wednesday, 30 April 2008 Government adopts further sanctions against Iran Matthew Vella The government of Malta has adopted further sanctions against Iran following the latter’s refusal to a full and sustained suspension of all nuclear enrichment related and reprocessing activities.
The sanctions effectively serve to monitor any entry or exit into UN member states of designated individuals connected to Iran’s nuclear programme. They also make it unlawful to trade, through Malta or using Malta’s flag vessels or aircraft items and technology set out in the UN sanctions which could be used for Iran’s nuclear programme. Any person found guilty of an offence against the sanctions is liable to a fine of €116,469. But the trade of dual-use items to Iran is still difficult to clamp down upon. London businessman Mehrdad Salashoor, 56, was found guilty last week of shipping hi-tech navigation equipment adaptable for missile guidance systems to the Iranian military, through Malta. He was found to have exported 11 unlicensed ‘gyrocompass’ devices, worth £650,000 (€821,000), to Azerbaijan, to Malta with instructions for an onward shipment to an Iranian company. British investigators later discovered the ‘firm’ was the Iranian Ministry of Defence, which uses front companies to receive its technology. The new sanctions now ‘blacklist’ 12 companies believed to be front-companies for Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organisation. The British customs operation was conducted under the auspices of the missile technology control regime, an arrangement involving 34 countries aimed at tackling WMDs. Salashoor has been jailed for 18 months. The case reveals the difficulty revolving around ‘dual-use’ equipment: items which can be used for both domestic, but also military use – 95% of the ingredients for weapons of mass destruction are dual-use in nature, and nations pursuing WMDs often import these components under the guise of civilian nuclear programs or peaceful scientific and commercial activities. The Malta Freeport is also the Mediterranean hub for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which at 150,000 TEUs per annum, generates more than 10% of the Freeport’s existing business. Any comments? |
 |
MaltaToday News |
Managing editor Saviour Balzan | Tel. ++356 21382741 | Fax: ++356 21385075 | Email