Vitol bypasses the embargo and offers petroleum products at a price of $250 million

The world's largest oil trader Vitol trades Iranian fuel oil, ignoring the European embargo on the Islamic republic. This was reported by Reuters, citing ten unnamed sources in China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Last month, the company bought 2 million barrels of fuel oil from Tehran and offered it to Chinese traders. The shipment was transshipped at the Malaysian port of Tanjung Pelepas from a National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) vessel to a Ticen Ocean tanker chartered by the trader. The owner of the latter was the Norwegian Frontline, which rented it to the Hong Kong Titan Petrochemicals, which, in its turn, rented it to Vitol.

Vitol mixed Iranian oil products with European fuel oil

Frontline CEO Jens Martin Jensen said that Titan Petrochemicals was the only counterparty of his company in the deal to hire Ticen Ocean. According to him, the Hong Kong company denied that the vessel was used to store oil or oil products from Iran. According to the agency, the trader may have used another tanker to store fuel oil.

Vitol also reportedly mixed Iranian oil products with European fuel oil, offering it to the Chinese as a "special blend. Chinese traders refused to buy the batch at an initial price of $250 million; whether the company managed to sell the fuel oil by reducing the price is unknown.

Vitol is not obliged to comply with sanctions banning trade in oil and petroleum products with Iran

Reuters notes that Vitol is not obliged to comply with sanctions banning trade in oil and oil products with Iran, because Switzerland, where the company is registered, refused to join the European embargo. Nevertheless, even before the sanctions came into force, the trader reported that it had stopped trading with the Islamic Republic. The Swiss-based oil traders Glencore and Trafigura also announced that they had stopped trading with Tehran.

The European embargo on the purchase of oil from Iran came into force in July this year. There are also U.S. economic sanctions against Tehran. The West expects to use prohibitive measures to deprive the Islamic Republic of hard currency, and to force it to abandon its nuclear program, which, as it is assumed, can be used to create atomic weapons. Tehran denies the existence of a military component in its nuclear program and assures that it is exclusively peaceful in nature.

The organization is suspected of involvement in Iran's uranium enrichment program

The U.S. administration has told Congress that Iran's state oil company National Iranian Oil is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Bloomberg reports. The organization is suspected of involvement in Iran's uranium enrichment program.
At the same time, the US Treasury Department found no connection with the IRGC at the National Iranian Tanker Company, which operates the country's tanker fleet.

In theory, exposing the links opens up the possibility of sanctions against foreign financial institutions that do business with the company. In particular, their access to the U.S. financial system could be blocked. However, the existing legislation does not provide for mandatory application of such measures.

Now several states, including China, India, Japan, and South Korea, are excluded from the sanctions regime by a special decision of the U.S. administration. The exemptions are valid for 180 days and can be extended.

At the expense of international sanctions, the U.S. and the EU intend to isolate the financial system of Iran, and thus complicate its economic activity. In addition to the ban on cooperation with Iranian companies and banks, the U.S. and the EU imposed an embargo on oil supplies from this country. Oil exports provide 50 percent of Iran's budget revenues.

Western countries are trying to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program, which could result in the creation of weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, Tehran has repeatedly stated that the country's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.

The media accused Europe's largest banks of cooperation with Iran

Several European banks continued cooperation with the Iranian financial institutions and authorities despite the international sanctions. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing documents in the possession of the publication.
According to the newspaper, Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, carried out $2.8 billion in financial transactions with Iran over the past year. The French BNP Paribas, the Spanish Banco Santander, the British HSBC and the Dutch ING Groep NV also maintained financial relations with Tehran. Many of them have long-term contracts to finance trade operations with Iran.

The bankers themselves explained to the newspaper that they do not enter into new contracts with the Iranian authorities, companies and financial structures, and also try to terminate existing commercial relationships, but it is not easy to do. At the same time, the market participants interviewed by the newspaper assess the reputational and judicial risks with respect to these financial and credit institutions as very high.

In August, the U.S. authorities have already begun to check Deutsche Bank, as they suspect it of links with Iran. In addition, it was reported about a similar investigation against the British Royal Bank of Scotland. In late August, The Financail Times wrote that the German division of the Italian UniCredit was also suspected of cooperation with Tehran.

In mid-August, the British bank Standard Chartered agreed to pay a $340 million fine in the United States. Thanks to this, the financial institution was able to avoid court proceedings on charges of illegal transactions with Iranian companies, which were brought by the Department of Financial Services of the State of New York. According to U.S. authorities, the bank concealed transactions with Iran worth 250 billion dollars.

Through international sanctions, the U.S. and Europe are trying to isolate the financial system of Iran, and thus complicate its economic activity. In addition to the ban on cooperation with Iranian companies and banks, the U.S. and EU imposed an embargo on oil supplies from this country. This way they are trying to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program, which may result in the creation of nuclear weapons. Tehran has repeatedly stated that the country's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful in nature.

U.S. suspects UniCredit of violating sanctions against Iran

The U.S. authorities began an inspection of HypoVereinsbank (HVB), a German "subsidiary" of Italy's largest bank UniCredit, suspecting the organization of violating the ban on transactions with certain countries. The Financial Times wrote about it with reference to the press service of UniCredit.
Although the bank's statement does not mention a specific country, its sources say that the U.S. Justice Department, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the New York attorney's office are investigating HVB's failure to comply with sanctions on Iran. The financial institutions did not provide details of the probe.

This year, the U.S. government initiated a number of investigations into major world banks suspected of having links to Iran. Thus, in August, the U.S. authorities began to check the German Deutsche Bank and the British Royal Bank of Scotland.

In the middle of August another British bank - Standard Chartered - agreed to pay a fine of 340 million dollars in the USA. In this way the organization was able to avoid court proceedings on charges of illegal transactions with Iranian companies, which were brought by the Department of Financial Services of the State of New York. The regulator believed that the bank had concealed transactions with Iran worth 250 billion dollars.

The U.S. (as well as the European Union) tightened sanctions imposed on Iran in early 2012. Restrictions on transactions with Iranian companies and banks were imposed in order to force Tehran to stop development in the nuclear sphere. The United States believes that Iran is working to develop nuclear weapons; in turn, Tehran stresses that it is developing its nuclear program for peaceful purposes.