Piraeus: sanctioned cargo found on ship bound for Iran

In recent days, a thriller unprecedented by Greek standards has been unfolding in the commercial port of Piraeus. According to the Office for Combating Money Laundering, employees of the 3rd customs post in Nea Ikoniou seized titanium rods, which, according to one version, were supposed to go to Iran for the development of Tehran’s nuclear program.

The seriousness of the case is evidenced by the fact that, in addition to customs officers, army and fire officers with special equipment to combat nuclear and radiological threats took part in the investigation and seizure of the cargo.

The story begins at the end of February. The container ship of the shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in the port of Shanghai in China was loaded with two containers bound for Istanbul. In the customs declarations, a multinational logistics company with branches in China and Turkey was indicated as the sender and at the same time the recipient of the cargo. The documents also described the contents of the containers, namely titanium rods, a high-tech titanium lathe, and containers of chemicals.

Titanium rods and machines are characterized as “double” materials. That is, raw materials and objects that can have civilian and military applications. Their movement is controlled on the basis of the relevant legislation of the European Community. The cargo ship with the two containers in question left China on 25 February. In the subsequent period, the Money Laundering Authority and its head, Charalambos Vourliotis, were informed by a foreign agency about the ongoing transportation of titanium rods. The initial information concerned one, not two containers, and was passed to the Public Prosecutor of the 3rd Piraeus Customs.

Turkey says the shipment from Shanghai was destined for Istanbul’s chemical industry.

Customs officials checked the shipping documents for all the containers on the cargo ship and found that a Chinese company was behind the shipment of not one, but two containers of titanium. Although the original plan was for them to transit through Piraeus, they were ordered to unload at the customs territory.

The special services of the army took control of the containers, while the fire brigade and EKAV were present with special equipment to deal with radiological and nuclear threats. During the inspection, titanium rods and a machine for processing them, as well as containers with chemicals, were indeed found. Just twenty-four hours ago, the Laundry Department in charge of the investigation completed the removal of the titanium rods. The 3rd customs, respectively, draws up a recommendation document for the release of chemical substances, motivating this by the fact that, on the one hand, their composition is not of particular interest, but there is a difficulty – the impossibility of storing it.

According to information provided during further investigation, the recipient company appears to be a chemical industry based in Istanbul. The Turkish Embassy in Greece was informed about the seizure of the cargo, in fact, requesting information and clarification from the competent Greek authorities in this case. In addition, the information for the media states that the Turkish consignee company has already applied to the court demanding the release of the cargo.

However, foreign intelligence agencies express serious suspicions that the final destination of the titanium rods was not Istanbul, but Iran. And also that it will be used to create weapons systems or, even worse, to develop Tehran’s nuclear program. In addition, in the past, Iran has reportedly attempted to circumvent the Security Council embargo and covertly import large quantities of titanium into the country.

For example, in the mid-2010s, a secret United Nations report was published in the international press, which spoke of the clandestine importation of titanium rods inside steel pipes into Iran. The same report also states that titanium, due to its strength, is used in the construction and operation of nuclear reactors, and the rods, previously found hidden in another cargo, were shipped to Iran from China.

There are many obscure details in this story. In particular, it is not clear why Iran should receive titanium bars from China through Europe and Turkey, if it is easier for it to purchase these bars in Russia, which is the world’s largest producer of titanium and titanium products. At the same time, send potentially sanctioned cargo through the European Union and Turkey, with which Iran has difficult relations, at the risk of losing it.

However, according to the opinion expertstitanium produced by Chinese enterprises is considered more suitable for the chemical industry and civil applications, primarily due to the lower price and low quality, which is not suitable for the nuclear industry.

In this case, the story with the “Iranian titan” is either another attempt to spoil Iran, in connection with what happened in March Iranian seizure of a Greek ship in response to similar US actionsor this is a game of the secret services of an unnamed country in relation to the same Iran, where details have come out that are “far-fetched” to this case.

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