Iran Complains to the International Maritime Organization Against the US

Following the news that insurance companies are prohibited from providing services to Iranian ships due to US sanctions, the Iranian embassy in London filed a complaint with the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Hamid Baidi-Nejad, Iran's ambassador in London, announced this news on his Telegram channel on Thursday (November 8). This letter was written after Brian Hook, the head of the Iran Action Group at the US State Department, stated that international insurance companies have been barred from providing services to Iranian ships, and the Islamic Republic will likely have to rely on domestic companies for ship insurance. According to Mr. Hook, Iranian insurers are 'unable to pay compensation for environmental disasters that amount to billions of dollars.' He also warned that the continued operation of Iranian oil tankers could lead to an 'environmental disaster' because the Islamic Republic's tankers turn off their 'automatic identification system' to secretly sell oil and avoid detection, while also not being covered by international insurers. As reported by Hamid Baidi-Nejad, in his letter to the Secretary-General of the IMO, he condemned this US action, deeming it a 'violation' of international maritime treaties, especially concerning maritime safety, and called for the issue to be reviewed at the IMO Council meeting. The Iranian ambassador in Britain added that 'without a doubt, Iran cannot be prevented from operating its fleet of ships for oil exports and the import and export of commercial and industrial goods due to the illegal demands of the US, and the US will certainly be responsible for any incident at sea.' Meanwhile, the head of the International Committee of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Parliament stated that 'international insurance companies will not forgo the profits from insuring Iranian oil tankers.' According to Jalil Rahimi Jahangir, 'it is not the case that all insurance companies have economic relations with the US' and 'wish to obey the United States.' Yahya Kamali-Pour, the deputy head of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also stated that the US warning to insurers of Iranian oil tankers is 'incompatible with international norms and laws,' and the government and diplomatic apparatus must find a 'solution' for it. Donald Trump, on May 8 of this year, ordered the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA, and the re-imposition of all sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. These sanctions have been implemented in two phases. According to reports, eight countries—China, India, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, Greece, and Taiwan—have been temporarily exempted from sanctions against Iranian oil. US officials stated at the time of the JCPOA exit that they would give Iran's customers until mid-November to completely stop purchasing oil from the Islamic Republic. While these eight countries have been temporarily exempted from sanctions on Iranian oil, issues related to the transportation of sold oil and banking transactions arising from this trade remain in place. Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, stated: 'So far, more than 20 countries importing oil from Iran have completely halted their imports from this country, and the supply of more than one million barrels of oil to the market has been cut off.'