60 Iranian ships lose Panama flag after US request

To avoid being placed on a blacklist Panama has acceded to a  US demand to remove  Iranian ships from registration under the Panama flag.

After a, meeting  with authorities of the United States Treasury Department and the US Embassy in the Maritime Authority of Panama (AMP) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Panamanian Association of Maritime Law, Panama notified its consuls, around the world not to receive any payment for taxes and fees from the vessels coming from or from companies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

There are 60  Iranian vessels from Iran that entered the Panamanian registry, following the lifting in 2016 of the economic restrictions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC, of the US Treasury Department.

However, President Trump reintroduced the blockade of Iran by the Treasury Department in November 2018.

The United States accused Tehran of secretly developing a nuclear program, and from that moment sanctions were put into effect to increase pressure and economic isolation, restricting financial, shipping and oil operations.

Panama could be sanctioned by OFAC by keeping Iranian ships with the Panamanian flag.

The authorities of the United States asked for the exclusion from the Panamanian registry vessels with Iranian interests, “because they are linked to operations of terrorist acts,” a source told La Prensa.

The Iranian ships that are flagged in the Panama registry are mostly tankers and would be expelled to prevent the country from being included in a Treasury blacklist.

In the list, the agency includes suspects of terrorism, money laundering or drug trafficking who are prevented from having any relationship with the United States.

The Panamanian registry is the largest in the world, with more than 8,000 and 217 million gross tons listed until June of last year.