Dar es Salaam. Tanzania will face the threat of US sanctions and damage its ties with the Washington if it does not stop the practice of “re-flagging” Iranian oil tankers, a US lawmaker has warned.MrHoward Berman, the ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, accused Tanzania of reflagging at least six and possibly as many at 10 tankers owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company, according to Reuters news agency.
“This action by your government has the effect of assisting the Iranian regime in evading US and EU sanctions and generating additional revenues for its nuclear enrichment and weapons research programme and its support for international terrorism,”MrBerman said in a letter to President JakayaKikwete that was obtained by Reuters.
MrBerman said Tanzania could face the sanctions that President BarackObama signed into law if the tankers were allowed to continue sailing under the Tanzanian flag.
He said Congress would also have “no choice” but to consider whether to continue the range of bilateral US programmes with Tanzania.
Officials at Tanzania’s embassy in Washington were not immediately available to comment on MrBerman's letter.
A reliable sourcesaid in Dar es Salaam yesterday that President Kikwete had summoned Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe over the matter.
“The threat of US sanctions is likely to feature prominently in the discussions at State House between President Kikwete and MrMembe,” the source said.
Reached for comment, MrMembe told The Citizen on Sunday that the US government had not yet communicated directly with the Tanzanian government.
“Such weighty statements are usually supposed to be issued by foreign ministries, not lawmakers. If it’s not from the US Department of State, then it should not be regarded as a threat by the US government. Even here in Tanzania what MPs say is not necessarily the government’s official position,” he said.
However, MrMembesaid he was not aware of the letter sent to President Kikwete by Mr Berman, but added that he would meet the US ambassador,Mr Alfonso Lenhardt, tomorrow.
“The government has been doing all in its power to resolve the matter… let me meet first meet the American ambassador on Monday and my ministry will give the government’s position on the issue,” MrMembe said.
Chief Secretary OmbeniSefuealso said he had not seen the letter reportedly sent to President Kikwete by the American lawmaker.
“I haven’t received any such a communication. If it’s true that such a letter has been sent, then it must have been addressed to the Foreign Affairs Ministry or the authority responsible for ship registration in Zanzibar,” he said.
The Zanzibar government confirmed on Friday that it had granted registration to 11 oil tankers formerly registered in Malta and Cyprus, and accused the media of misleading the public.
Zanzibar’s minister for Infrastructure and Communication, MrHamadMasoudHamad, told the House of Representatives that the vessels were operated by firms owned by nationals of British Virgin Islands and Seychelles.
He named the ships as Daisy with a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 81479 registered in Malta, Justice (GRT 164241) registered in Cyprus, Magnolia (GRT 81479) also formerly registered in Malta.
Other ships are Courage (GRT 163660) owned by Courage Shipping Co. Ltd, Freedom (GRT 163660) also owned by Freedom shipping Co. Ltd, Valor (GRT 160930) owned by Valor Shipping Co. Ltd and Leadership (GRT 164241) owned by Leadership Shipping Co. Ltd. All these were formerly registered in Cyprus.
MrHamad also named Companion (GRT 164241) owned by Companion Shipping Co. Ltd, Camellia (GRT 81479) owned by Camellia Shipping Co. Ltd, Clove (GRT 81479) owned by Clove Shipping Co. Ltd and Lantana (GRT 81479) owned by Lantana Shipping Co. Ltd, all were formerly registered in Malta.
On Wednesday, The Citizen reported that an Iranian oil-tanker company has renamed at least 10 of its vessels and switched them to Tanzania’s flag to get round international sanctions, sending shockwaves through the country’s leadership.
Government ministers and public officials went into overdrive following reports that the company had changed the registration of several of its ships and was now passing itself off as a Tanzanian firm. The vessels were apparently registered in Zanzibar.
The Minister for Transportation, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, said he was aware of the development and had taken action. But his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Mr Bernard Membe, was in the dark about the saga.
The international news agency Bloomberg reported yesterday that the oil tanker company known as NITC, which is owned by the Iranian Pension Fund, has renamed at least 10 of its vessels and switched to the Tanzanian flag.
MrMembe, who described the news as “shocking, strange and irregular according to the governing laws”, said thorough investigations would be conducted to establish the truth.
Bloomberg reported that NITC renamed five of its very large crude carriers, each holding about two million barrels of oil, and five Suezmaxes with a capacity for one million barrels.
Quoting the Equasis shipping database maintained by the European Commission, the reports pointed out that ownership of the ships was switched from NITC to new companies operating from the same address in Tehran. NITC remains the operator, though. All the ships were previously registered in Malta or Cyprus.
This development comes a few days before the full European embargo on Iranian crude exports, which starts tomorrow, is extended to insuring vessels that carry the oil. Some 25 NITC tankers are being used to store crude, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said.
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