Iran Press/Iran News: Mohammad Rastad in a video interview with Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, reacted to the threats made by various American officials in the field of port and maritime affairs and called on the IMO to consider taking legal action against Washington concerning this issue.
Noting that all international forums such as IMO and the G20 summit emphasize the need to facilitate global trade, especially the transportation of basic goods, food and medicine, Rastad said: "Iran's fleet also serves customers and ships docking in Iranian ports, and even the terminals for unloading and loading our fleet are threatened by the United States."
"If we put aside political issues, we believe that US actions have a direct impact on the security and performance of our commercial ships and fleet of vessels, and that five tankers have recently sailed for South America, all of them being threatened by the Americans. Activities that are completely legal and in accordance with international law," he said.
Kitack Lim for his part said he would review the issue with the IMO in accordance with the conventions and regulations and would seek the views of the IMO's legal management team on the issue, although the IMO has restrictions on addressing some non-technical and political issues.
The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization noted that in the past we have had cases in which shipping and maritime activities have been disrupted due to political issues. In those cases, the IMO took steps to pave the way for functioning of commercial shipping activities as much as possible. However, there were limitations to what the IMO could do.
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