Iranian insurance consortium continue covering crude exports

Director of the International Affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Seyed Mohsen Qamsari played down the impacts of insurance sanctions by the western countries on Iran's oil industry, stressing that domestic insurance consortiums have been able to cover over 90% of Iran's crude exports. “Currently, more than 90 percent of crude oil cargos are insured by the Iranian insurance consortiums and our customers have been satisfied with us so far,” Qamsari said on Sunday. He added that Iran has established a domestic insurance consortium to underwrite the country’s oil cargos. “Fortunately, this consortium has managed to insure Iranian oil cargos over the past two years and for the time being we have no problem with insuring our vessels to carry oil to our customers,” the senior Iranian oil official pointed out. Early in April, Head of Iran's Bimeh Markazi (Central Insurance) Organization Mohammad Karimi said the country is ready to insure oil tankers against western sanctions. "In case of tighter insurance sanctions by western governments, Iran's insurance industry is capable of insuring oil tankers," Karimi siad. He noted that Iran has benefited from western sanctions and transformed them into opportunities. "In all international laws and conventions, the insurance industry is not subject to sanctions, but as you see big powers have imposed unfair sanctions against our country's insurance industry," the Iranian insurance official said. The official noted that each oil tanker is insured for up to one billion dollars. "Big risks are covered within the framework of a consortium in the world and this issue has been well understood in Iran and the tankers are insured." Karimi said Iranian insurance companies are providing insurance cover in conformity with international standards. Washington and its western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry. Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and the western embargos for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment. Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path. Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.