Tehran, Iran, October 16
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
The General Court of the European Union has refused to grant the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) release from sanctions.
The company recently received the court’s verdict, where it was accused of having provided logistic support for the Iranian government, an unnamed source at NITC told Fars news agency October 16.
The NITC was first put on the EU’s sanctions list in 2012. In 2014 it was removed from the list as it convinced the court that it was not a government-held company.
It was after five months that Iran was once more put in the sanctions list, which the NITC official believes was to preclude a scandal for the EU because the NITC could have sued for damage if it remained out of sanctions.
Following the 2014 return to sanctions list, the NITC filed plea, for which a hearing was held in early 2016. There, the NITC’s argument was rejected by the court, which claimed the NITC logistically helped the Iranian government under sanctions.
Now the NITC has until November 21 to plea against the verdict, the official stated, adding, “If they look legally and avoid politics we got a chance to win.”
“In the court we said that we had abided by 800,000 to 1 million barrels of oil export limit as stipulated in a preliminary agreement about the nuclear issue,” the official said. “This shows that the logistic support has been carried out within the nuclear agreements, therefore annulling grounds for sanctions. But as I said, they might reject our argument solely for regard for their esteem.”
“During the hearing, our argument was considered by the court, which was the reason for the session to take long,” the official added. “If we fail in our plea and the JCPOA (Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers) is violated for any reason and sanctions come back, we will go back to the sanctions situation automatically.”
“But if we win the case, even if a snapback in sanctions takes place, we will not be on the EU’s sanctions list allthough they may find other excuses for imposing new sanctions,” the official said.
The General Court has recently issued the verdict in 27 pages. As long as Iranian sanctions are suspended under the JCPOA, the verdict will not be implemented.