New sanctions imposed by the EU on Iran affect a substantial number of clients of the Malta Freeport but to a lesser extent than previously feared.

“Transhipment business by Iranian ships at Malta Freeport can still go ahead as usual although Iranian ships will be inspected more regularly to make sure that they are not performing any activities which break the sanctions,” Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg told The Times yesterday.

He was speaking following a meeting of European foreign affairs ministers in Brussels, shortly after the EU approved a raft of new sanctions against Iran for its continued defiance of the international community over its uranium-enrichment programme.

The new sanctions target Iranian firms, both public and private, and affect trade, financial services, energy and transport.

They also lengthen the list of Iranian nationals and companies whose European assets are frozen and who cannot travel within the EU. The list includes Iranian banks, the elite and the country’s main state-owned shipping line IRISL which has many ships registered in Malta and a strong business presence at the Freeport.

The measures will affect IRSIL but they do not prohibit the use of European transhipment and bunkering services, as feared a few weeks ago.

Speaking to The Times, Dr Borg denied that Malta, together with Greece and Germany, had resisted the sanctions, saying Malta in fact agreed with them.

Malta was one of the EU member states that had expressed concern over the proposed sanctions as a total ban on the use of European transhipment facilities by Iran would have meant the Maltese Freeport losing between five to 10 per cent of its business.

But although the latest measures will still have an impact, Dr Borg said, it should be minimal.

Agreement on the sectors to be targeted was reached by EU leaders last month, following a fourth round of sanctions adopted by the UN security Council in June.

The EU measures go far beyond the sanctions, as do separate sanctions imposed by the US earlier in July.

The foreign ministers described the sanctions as a “comprehensive and robust package of measures” whose ultimate goal was to bring Iran back to the negotiating table.

They reaffirmed “the longstanding commitment of the European Union to work for a diplomatic solution of the Iranian nuclear issue”.

They called on Iran to “allay the concerns of the international community about its nuclear programme and agree on a concrete date for talks”.

Iran maintains that its uranium-enrichment programme serves peaceful purposes.

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