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Malaysia to assess response to possible US sanctions over Iran oil shipments
A senior US treasury official said this week the United States saw Iran's capacity to move its oil as being reliant on service providers based in Malaysia.
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Oil supertanker Grace 1 on suspicion of being carrying Iranian crude oil to Syria is seen near Gibraltar, Spain July 4, 2019. (Reuters/-)
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alaysia said on Wednesday it would need to assess its response to unilaterally applied sanctions, following concerns raised by the United States over the role of Malaysia-based service providers in shipments of sanctioned Iranian oil.
A senior US treasury official said this week the United States saw Iran's capacity to move its oil as being reliant on service providers based in Malaysia.
The official also said the United States was trying to prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where the Palestinian militant group Hamas could both fundraise and then move money.
Malaysia government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said the country was prepared to engage with its US counterparts to better understand its concerns and stressed that it would comply with United Nations sanctions.
"We want to assert that Malaysia, as a sovereign nation, we comply with UN sanctions," he told reporters.
"But when it comes to unilaterally applied sanctions, then I think we have to assess this situation."
Brian Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and Neil MacBride, Treasury General Counsel, are expected to visit Malaysia this week as part of efforts to clamp down on financing for militant groups routed through Southeast Asia.
Washington has imposed significant sanctions on Iran and its proxies aimed at choking financial flows it said were being used to foment instability in the Middle East.
Tehran's oil sales in East Asia have financed its armed proxies, including Palestinian militant group Hamas and Yemen's Huthis, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The oil shipments have been sent to buyers in the region through waters near Singapore and Malaysia, the official said.
"The capacity of Iran to move its oil has relied on... these types of service providers that are based in Malaysia. We want to have a direct conversation with Malaysians about that," the official added.
"Stopping these oil shipments will deal a critical blow to Iran's ability to fund these attacks around the world including the Houthi attacks that are currently threatening commercial shipping."
The US Treasury will work with maritime operators and banking executives in Singapore and Malaysia to stop the sales, the official added.
Washington also wants to "prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where Hamas perceives that it can both fundraise and then move money", the official said.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last month that Washington was working to diminish Iran's ability to export oil, adding there might be "more that we could do".
Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 34,789 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
