Major Iranian shipping company designated for helping proliferation

Published 11 September 2008

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution, designated a major Iranian shipping company as helping in Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control today designated the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), and eighteen other affiliated entities, for providing logistical services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). “Not only does IRISL facilitate the transport of cargo for UN designated proliferators, it also falsifies documents and uses deceptive schemes to shroud its involvement in illicit commerce,” said Stuart Levey, under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “IRISL’s actions are part of a broader pattern of deception and fabrication that Iran uses to advance its nuclear and missile programs. That conduct should give pause to any financial institution or business still choosing to deal with Iran.”

MODAFL, which was designated by the U.S. Department of State in October 2007 under E.O. 13382, has the ultimate authority over previously designated entities including the Aerospace Industries Organization an umbrella group which controls Iran’s ballistic missile research, development and production activities and organizations.

IRISL is Iran’s national maritime carrier; a global operator with a worldwide network of subsidiaries, branch offices, and agent relationships.  It provides a variety of maritime transport services, including bulk, break-bulk, cargo and containerized shipping. These services connect Iranian exporters and importers with South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

According to information available to the U.S. government, IRISL also facilitates shipments of military-related cargo destined for MODAFL and its subordinate entities, including organizations that have been designated by the United States pursuant to E.O. 13382 and listed by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747.

In order to ensure the successful delivery of military-related goods, IRISL has deliberately misled maritime authorities through the use of deception techniques. These techniques were adopted to conceal the true nature of shipments ultimately destined for MODAFL. Furthermore, as international attention over Iran’s WMD programs has increased, IRISL has pursued new strategies, which could afford it the potential to evade future detection of military shipments. Specifically, IRISL has employed the use of generic terms to describe shipments so as not to attract the attention of shipping authorities and created and made use of cover entities to conduct official, IRISL business. For example, in 2007, IRISL transported a shipment of a precursor chemical destined for use in Iran’s missile program. The end user of the chemical was Parchin Chemical Industries, an entity listed by the United States pursuant to E.O. 13382 and listed in UNSCR 1747 as a subordinate of Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO).

Also designated today were seventeen entities, which were found to be owned or controlled by or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, IRISL. These entities are:

  • Valfajr 8th Shipping Line Co SSK
  • Khazar Sea Shipping Lines
  • Irinvestship Ltd.
  • Shipping Computer Services Company
  • Iran o Misr Shipping Company
  • Iran o Hind Shipping Company
  • IRISL Marine Services & Engineering Company
  • Irital Shipping SRL Company
  • South Shipping Line Iran
  • IRISL Multimodal Transport Co.
  • Oasis Freight Agencies
  • IRISL Europe Gmbh
  • IRISL Benelux NV
  • IRISL China Shipping Co., Ltd.
  • Asia Marine Network Pte. Ltd.
  • CISCO Shipping Co. Ltd.
  • IRISL (Malta) Limited
  • One additional entity, IRISL (U.K.) Ltd., was designated today for being owned or controlled by Irinvestship Ltd. 

Today’s designations reinforce UN Security Council Resolution 1803 of March 2008, which among other things, calls upon all states, in a manner consistent with their national legal authorities and international law, to inspect IRISL cargoes to and from Iran, transiting their ports, “provided there is reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel is transporting prohibited goods” pursuant to UNSCRs 1737, 1747 and 1803. These designations also highlight the dangers of doing business with IRISL and its subsidiaries.  Countries and firms, including customers, business partners, and maritime insurers doing business with IRISL, may be unwittingly helping the shipping line facilitate Iran’s proliferation activities.