Sanctions on Iran Shipping Industry Eased after Geneva N. Deal: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian deputy minister of road and urban development said the transportation of cargo ships to the country’s southern ports has been reinvigorated following some relief on western sanctions that had targeted Iran’s shipping industry.
During a visit to Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Sunday, Mohammad Saeednejad announced that the implementation of the landmark Geneva nuclear deal has lifted part of the trade restrictions imposed by the West on Iran’s shipping industry.
Some western countries had put an embargo on Iran’s ship insurance provision, which had banned international insurance providers to cooperate with the country in shipping industry.
But a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) has made it easier for Iran to trade its oil and has also facilitated the transportation of foreign vessels, thanks largely to a partial lifting of the European shipping insurance ban.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) on November 24, 2013, signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva after several rounds of tight negotiations.
Based on the interim deal, which has taken effect since January 20, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.
Such relief includes suspension of some restrictions on trade in gold, precious metals and petrochemicals, and in the auto industry. The deal allows third-country purchases of Iranian oil to remain at current levels. Some $4.2 billion in oil revenues would be allowed to be transferred to Iran.
However, US and European Union (EU) sanctions that have slashed Iran's oil exports from 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 1 million bpd remain in place and Washington has said that it will not allow exports to rise above current levels.
