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Iran’s shipping line accounts for 80 per cent of country’s foreign trade

Business Materials 26 October 2013 17:04 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.26/ Trend F.Karimov/

Iran's shipping line accounts for 80 per cent of the country's foreign trade, IRIB quoted the Managing Director of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) Mohammad Hossein Dajmar as saying.

Since the international sanctions have been imposed on the country, 80 per cent of the total container shipment has been carried out by the IRISL, he added.

The shipments have been carried out mainly to Asia, Africa, and the Persian Gulf states, he noted.

He went on to note that the European countries have not protested against annulling a European court's verdict to lift sanctions against the IRISL. Some 30 days are left to revise the verdict, he said.

In response to a Reuters report about measures of some European countries to re-impose sanctions against the country's shipping line, he said that if the European countries had strong evidence about the case, they would have presented it to the court.

European governments have taken preliminary steps to re-impose sanctions against Iran's main cargo shipping line, potentially complicating a new diplomatic push to settle the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

Diplomats told Reuters that the governments had agreed this week to send letters to Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and some of its subsidiaries to inform them about their intention.

The decision, not yet final, is part of a broader EU effort to counter a number of court rulings annulling European sanctions such as these ones in recent months.

Shipments to Iran will increase as sanctions against the country's shipping line have been annulled, IRIB quoted Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization director Ataollah Sadr as saying in September.

The European court decided to lift EU sanctions against Iranian leading shipping company IRISL, Brussels online newspaper EUobserver reported.

"The Court of Justice decided to lift the sanctions against Iran's biggest shipping line IRISL, explaining that the EU has not provided evidence of its complicity in the alleged Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons," RIA Novosti reported citing the EUobserver.

Earlier, the European court overturned the freezing of assets imposed on seven Iranian financial institutions and other companies. By the resolution of the court assets of Post Bank Iran, the Export Development Bank, Persia International Bank and Bank Refah Kargaran are being unfrozen, as well as Iran Insurance Company,Good Luck Shipping and Iranian Offshore Engineering & Construction Company.

Assets of the manager based in Hamburg, Germany, Hanseatic Trade Trust & Shipping (HTTS) Naser Bateni will be unfrozen as well.

The EU Court lifted sanctions as it failed to produce sufficient evidence about that the listed companies were involved in financing the program to develop nuclear weapons.

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