US embassy cables | Malta was asked to freeze Irisl assets

The United States government had asked Malta in October 2008 to freeze the assets of the Freeport-based Islamic Republic of Iran shipping line (Irisl), according to a cable released by Wikileaks.

Former US ambassador Molly Bordonaro and deputy chief of mission Jason Davis met finance minister Tonio Fenech and his chief of staff Alan Caruana, askng him to freeze the assets of the Iranian national shipping line based in Malta (Irisl Malta) and run mandatory inspection of all its cargo, and ensure all Maltese companies cease business operations with Irisl.

“Initially somewhat taken aback at the broad ramifications of the request, Minister Fenech in the end assured the Ambassador that Malta was ‘fully committed to combatting WMD proliferation’ and would do its utmost to support the request to the fullest extent possible under Maltese law.”

The Maltese government has formally adopted EU sanctions against various branches and subsidiaries of Irisl, which has used a network of front companies in Malta to evade restrictions on its trade. There are at least 42 Irisl-owned companies which own ships formerly belonging to Irisl. Instead they use the services of the Maltese-owned Royal-Med Shipping Agency, in Sliema, which is the agent for the private Iranian company  Hafiz Darya Shipping Lines (HDS). HDS was created in 2009 shortly after the US and UK hit Irisl with trading bans over its alleged role in supplying Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.

In her comment on the meeting, Bordonaro noted that it would be “unusual for the GOM to decline to take action on a direct USG request.”

She added that the Maltese had “worked consistently behind the scenes to strictly limit [Iranian] access. In this case, however, despite the Finance Minister’s good intentions, it seems quite possible that unilateral GOM action to shut down a commercial entity – one that is well established here and which has counterparts elsewhere in the E.U. – may turn out to be not possible at this time.

“Economics and logistics are not the only factors; even more significant is the priority Malta places on acting in concert with its fellow EU member states. A decision to step up inspections of IRISL cargo is more likely, but ‘comprehensive, mandatory inspections’ of all IRISL containers transitting the Freeport would present a severe logistical challenge.”