Israeli businessmen suspected of breaking sanctions on Iran

As outlined by the United states Department of State, the Israeli firm Ofer Brothers Group sold an oil tanker to Iran for 8.65 million U.S. dollars, therefore breaking the economic sanctions imposed on the Persian country.

The announcement, made final week, said that Tanker Pacific, a subsidiary of Ofer Brothers Holdings had sold the tanker to Iran in September 2010, the Ha'aretz newspaper reported on Sunday.

Although Iran and also the Ofer Brothers Groups each deny the accusations, the State Department said the Israeli corporation had " failed to workout due diligence and did not heed publicly accessible and easily obtainable information that would have indicated that they were coping with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines."

Ofer Brothers said that they sold the tanker to a Dubai firm named Crystal Shipping, and that every thing has been a " misunderstanding," the Israeli small business web page Globes reported.

Nonetheless, at a press conference final week, a State Department spokesman mentioned "We did considerable due diligence in checking out these claims and what we identified is the fact that Ofer Holdings Group could be the parent of a business called Tanker Pacific, and that's the provider that in fact sold this tanker for the Iranians."

Tanker Pacific is probably the biggest shipping firms within the market place, with a fleet of 45 tankers that transport crude oil globally.

Iran also denied having anything to do with all the transaction and an official explained final week that they "do not do enterprise with all the Zionist regime," seeing that it can be forbidden by Iranian law.

For now, Ofer Brothers has been included in the list of businesses that violate economic sanctions on Iran.

The U.S. along with the European Union imposed economic sanctions against Iran in 2005, when president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced he was starting a brand new nuclear plan. Even though Iran claims it truly is only for civil purposes, the Western powers believe the nuclear system has military purposes.

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