Rubio’s Stop in Panama Opens a Campaign Against ‘Shadow Fleet’ of Vessels Skirting U.S. Sanctions on Iran and Russia

As Secretary Rubio visits President Mulino of Panama Sunday, an advocacy group, United Against Nuclear Iran, is urging the former senator to add pressure on the Central American country to end its abetting of a “shadow fleet” of smuggling ships that circumvent American sanctions on Iran, Russia, and others. As a senator, Mr. Rubio “has been a real leader on this issue,” UANI’s policy director, Jason Brodsky, tells the Sun. “We want there to be an effective maximum pressure campaign on Panama, which is responsible for the majority of the flaggings of these ghost fleet vessels.”Under American pressure, driven in part by UANI’s meticulous tracking of ships carrying sanctioned cargo, Panama has recently made an effort to de-flag some of the smuggling vessels. Yet, it has not yet completely ended its “continued flagging of the oil smuggling vessels financing the leading state-sponsor of terrorism is regrettable,” UANI’s chairman, Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, and its chief executive, Ambassador Mark Wallace, write.Panama’s ship registry announced earlier in January that it had begun de-listing 68 vessels sanctioned by America, Bloomberg reported last week. Barbados has de-flagged 46 such vessels following Washington’s pressure on shipping Russian oil despite American and international sanctions imposed since the Ukraine war started. “Russian sanctions evaders are part of those fleets,” Mr. Brodsky says. Yet, Iranian oil-carrying ships also use Panamanian flags in their smuggling operations. Some Panama-flagged vessels are used both by Russia and Iran to evade sanctions.In its final days, the Biden administration has targeted for sanctions the “shadow fleet” used by Russia and Iran to evade sanctions. In January the department of Treasury targeted 35 entities and vessels carrying illicit Iranian petroleum to foreign markets. The Trump administration is preparing a wider package of sanctions on Tehran in what could be a reintroduction of Mr. Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on the Islamic Republic, Washington sources tell the Sun,The Islamic Republic of Iran, which has been under global exporting sanctions for its violations of nuclear-related pacts, has been using an armada of ships to smuggle illicit oil. In the first three years of President Biden’s term, Tehran sold $144 billion-worth of oil and petroleum products, according to a recent Foundation for Defense of Democracies report. Most of those exports went to Communist China. UANI is reporting that 20 percent of the 477 ships that conceal Iranian ownership — a “shadow armada” — are flagged under the Panama Maritime Authority. “This makes Panama the number one flagger of such vessels,” Messrs. Bush and Wallace write. The Panamanian government “generally is pro-American on a number of fronts,” Mr. Rubio said Friday on the Megyn Kelly Show. The top item of his Panama City visit is the promotion of President Trump’s vision on re-seizing American control of the Panama Canal. “A few years ago, Panama made the decision that they were going to de-recognize Taiwan and align with Beijing,” Mr. Rubio said. Now Hong Kong-based contractors control the canal’s entry and exit points. “If China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could,” Mr. Rubio says, “and it’s my view that’s a violation of the treaty agreement.”With the Islamic Republic of Iran and Communist China actively using Panamanian-flagged ships to evade sanctions, Mr. Rubio could begin a campaign of pressure on Mr. Mulino on the flagging issue as well, according to UANI. Mr. Brodsky tells the Sun that the organization’s position as: “We’re saying that it should be on the agenda.”

Rubio’s Stop in Panama Opens a Campaign Against ‘Shadow Fleet’ of Vessels Skirting U.S. Sanctions on Iran and Russia

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