Iranian Entities Delisted From EU Sanctions

The European Union has eased sanctions against several Iranian entities, mostly in the energy sector, and one individual, EU said in a statement on Tuesday, a year after the nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers came into effect.

The companies and individual delisted include the Oil Industry Pension Fund Investment Company, also known as OPIC, Petropars Operation & Management Company, Petropars Resources Engineering Ltd, Iran Liquefied Natural Gas Co., Moallem Insurance Company, Iran Aluminum Company (IRALCO), North Drilling Company, Good Luck Shipping Company LLC, Neka Novin (a.k.a. Niksa Nirou), West Sun Trade GMBH, Hanseatic Trade Trust & Shipping (HTTS) GmbH, and Naser Bateni, managing director of Hamburg-based HTTS.

The EU has also repealed restrictive measures against the London branch of Bank Saderat Iran, the statement showed.

The European Union blacklisted dozens of Iranian entities and individuals in 2011 and 2012 as part of its sweeping restrictions that ostensibly targeted Tehran’s nuclear program but significantly undermined its foreign trade and banking relations.

Tehran reached a historic deal with the six world powers (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany) in July 2015 to limit its nuclear activities in return for the removal of international financial and trade restrictions.

The deal, officially dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, came into force in January 2016, allowing Tehran to gain access to billions of dollars in frozen assets and effectively resume trade with the outside world.

State news agency IRNA attached special importance to the delisting of OPIC, stressing that the move will ease the attraction of foreign finance for major oil and gas development projects by the company. OPIC has 10 subsidiaries operating in the oil and gas trade and drilling.

However, some energy sanctions imposed by the EU are reportedly still in place, including against the National Iranian Tanker Company.

Sirous Kianersi, the NITC chief, said this month that his company has filed an appeal with a European court asking to be removed from the EU sanctions list.

Following the enforcement of tougher sanctions against Iran in 2012, NITC was blacklisted by the EU, but some sanctions were revoked in 2014 after NITC pleas to an EU court of law to ease the unjust restrictions.