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Report: Iran hiding identities of ships that contain excess oil
Iran is repainting its tankers in an attempt to conceal the excess oil that they are now carrying due to sanctions slashing Iranian oil exports, The New York Times reported.
The report from Iranian port city Bandar Abbas found that a fleet of 65 tankers have become “floating storage facilities” for Iran’s oil that it can’t export. One tanker, Neptune, had a fresh coat of black paint, but the ship’s real name was Iran Astaneh, the Times reported.
Iran’s oil exporting problems have grown this month as new sanctions kicked in from the European Union, which stopped importing Iranian oil. Those sanctions, along with ones enacted by the United States, have taken a bite out of Iran’s economy, which relies on oil exports.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Iranian state TV Tuesday that the new sanctions were the “strongest” yet imposed on Iran, according to The Associated Press.
There have been multiple rounds of talks, but so far they have not produced substantive gains, such as Iran halting the enrichment of its uranium to 20 percent, one of the P5+1 group’s requirements.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, while the United States and its allies suspect Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
President Obama has said he is not taking any options off the table, including military ones, to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But he’s pushed for a diplomatic solution and argued the sanctions have been effective, as he’s attempted to dissuade Israel from launching its own attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Times report said that in addition to repainting ships, some Iranian vessels have turned off their GPS tracking devices. The Neptune carried no flag and its home port was changed twice.
It now reads Funafuti, the capital of Pacific Ocean island nation of Tuvalu, according to the Times.
