Malta-based BIIS Maritime Ltd is among 10 shipping companies blacklisted by the EU in a raft of sanctions on Iran.

The sanctions, aimed at stopping the country’s nuclear weapons programme, also include a ban on trade in Iranian oil and the blacklist of the Central Bank of Iran, the state-owned Bank Tejarat.

EU Council sources said that only two of the 10 blacklisted companies involved in nuclear procurement or illegal arms trade were based outside Iran: BIIS Maritime Ltd, operating from St Lucija Street, Valletta, and Hanseatic Trade Trust and Shipping, registered in Germany.

The sources said that both companies were connected to Iran’s state-controlled shipping giant IRISL, Iran’s main shipping line.

According to the register of the Malta Financial Services Authority, the major shareholder of the Malta-based company is Iran’s Iranohind shipping company. There are two minority shareholders, one based in Teheran and the other in Mumbai, India.

It has no Maltese shareholding.

A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry said that Malta agreed with the sanctions imposed on Iran, adding that the government was fully committed to enforce them.

Embargo could take six months to become effective as some member states want a delay

Malta was represented at Monday’s meeting of EU Foreign Ministers by its Permanent Representative in Brussels, Richard Cachia Caruana.

This is not the first time that Malta-based companies are involved in sanctions imposed by the EU on Iran.

Last year, four Maltese registered shipping companies with direct connections to Iran started legal proceedings at the European Court of Justice challenging parts of a decision by the 27 EU member states in 2010 to impose sanctions against IRISL.

The Maltese companies were joined in the case by other Iranian firms based in the UK, Germany, Singapore, South Korea and Iran, challenging the decision to freeze their financial assets and economic resources as part of the sanctions.

The four Maltese companies involved in the ongoing case are Busherer Shipping Company Ltd, IRISL Malta Ltd, ISI Maritime Ltd and Marble Shipping Ltd.

The shareholding of all four companies is Iranian, although a Maltese company based in Qormi, Maraner Holdings Ltd, has a stake in IRISL Malta Ltd. A Maltese citizen,  whose address is also registered in Qormi, acts as a legal and judicial representative of the company.

EU sources said that although the decision to ban any trade in Iranian crude oil was taken on Monday, the embargo could take about six months to take effect because a number of member states, particularly Greece, wanted a delay so they could still profit from contracts they had signed with Iran.