Iranian Tankers Idle Off Galle Port, US Sanctions Loom
The Sunday Morning has learned that over a dozen Iranian-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) tankers have been idling at the edge of Sri Lankan waters for weeks, some for over a month. The vessels, suspected of moving Iranian oil to buyers around the world in breach of US sanctions, are hovering just outside the 12 nautical mile (nmi) territorial boundary of Sri Lankan waters near the Port of Galle.
Concerns Over Offshore Support Services and Banks
Concerns have been raised over offshore support services and banks that enable such activities violating US sanctions. A senior official attached to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) told The Sunday Morning that despite requests for a policy brief and guidelines from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on how to instruct private offshore support services based out of Sri Lankan ports on dealing with requests from such US-sanctioned vessels, clear instructions were yet to be received.
Notification from US Authorities Needed
The Deputy Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku told The Sunday Morning that the Iranian tankers remained outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. She acknowledged that any private companies that provided them services and banks which enabled such actions ran the risk of US sanctions. However, she emphasized that notification from the US authorities was needed for Sri Lanka to take action.
“We don’t have a means of knowing which vessels are sanctioned by the US Government. Our Director General of Merchant Shipping only received sanctions lists from the UN. If the US, through its mission in Colombo, informs us via the Foreign Ministry, we can list those vessels as sanctioned. However, we have not been notified as such through the Foreign Ministry. If we get a notification, we can issue a warning to local suppliers at our ports that those vessels are sanctioned. We can act if we are notified officially and then warn the local parties,” Kodithuwakku explained.
Sri Lanka Navy Monitoring Vessels
A senior defence official told The Sunday Morning that the Sri Lanka Navy had been monitoring the vessels closely through Maritime Domain Awareness systems, but needed direction from the Government to do anything else. “As they are outside our territorial waters, there is little we can do from a security standpoint,” he opined, but warned that the US Navy had boarded several such tankers in international waters south of Sri Lanka and commandeered the vessels as they were under sanction.
The official added: “Le
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Original Article: US sanctions: Dozen Iranian tankers off Galle — Themorning