Iran helps Syria defy oil embargo

By Lina Saigol in London

An oil tanker belonging to Iran’s state-owned shipping line has been switching flags and using multiple companies to transport crude from Syria to Iran, illustrating how Tehran is helping to sidestep international efforts to choke the finances of Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president.

Documents obtained by the Financial Times show the vessel, operated by the Islamic Republic International Shipping Lines, sailed from Syria to the Gulf of Oman and then Iran, using different flags and changing owners.

Oil sanctions imposed by the EU, which bought 95 per cent of Syria’s oil exports, have hit the country particularly hard. The sector accounted for 20 per cent of gross domestic product before the uprising began.Syria is reeling from the effect of sanctionsintroduced by the US, the EU and some Arab states over the past year. Analysts estimate the economy has contracted by between 2 and 10 per cent, and the Syrian pound has declined in value by a third.Iran and Syria have long been allies and Tehran, which faces a range of international sanctions over its nuclear programme, has been accused by the US of assisting the Syrian regime in its crackdown against 14-month uprising.

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