Info:
Tidewater Middle East Co. is a major port operator in Iran. In June 2011, the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Tidewater for its alleged ownership by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it says has used Tidewater for illicit weapons shipments;
Tidewater has operations at seven Iranian ports, including Iran’s primary port terminal, Shaheed Rajaee Port Complex in Bandar Abbas, through which some 90 percent of Iran’s container traffic passes;
On June 23, 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against Tidewater as well as Iran Air, the flag carrier airline of Iran. Treasury said it was blacklisting Tidewater for its ownership by the IRGC. The U.S. government additionally claimed that “the Iranian Government has repeatedly used Tidewater-managed ports to export arms or related materiel in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.” The U.S. lists three documented incidents, most recently a seizure of an IRGC weapons shipments in Nigeria in October 2010;
Owned by Mehr-e Eqtesand-e Iranian Investment Company and the IRGC, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury;
As a result of the sanctions, Maersk, the world’s largest container ship operator, ceased all business with Tidewater-managed ports in Iran;
An IRGC-Qods Force weapons shipment seized by Nigeria in late October 2010 was loaded at the Shahid Rajaee container terminal at Bandar Abbas. A container shipment of arms-related material, which was discovered in October 2009 aboard the German-owned and IRISL-chartered ship, the Hansa India, was loaded at Bandar Abbas. A container shipment of arms-related material departed Bandar Abbas in January 2009 on the Cypriot-flaged and IRISL-chartered ship, the M/V Monchegorsk, before it was stopped by the U.S. Navy and later seized by Cypriot authorities;
Industry:
Port Operator
Also Known As:
Tidewater
Established:
1967
Country:
Iran
Address:
No. 80, Tidewater Building, Vozara Street, Next to Saie Park, Tehran, Iran
Website:
www.tidewater.ir
E-mail:
info@tidewater.ir
Reason for the color:
» Designated by the United States (on June 23, 2011) pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which targets weapons of mass destruction proliferators and their supporters
» Incidents of weapons shipments involving facilities managed by Tidewater Middle East;
» Maersk line, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk, stops business at ports managed by Tidewater Middle East;