Malaysia says it accepts only UN sanctions in rebuff toUS over Iran

Minister reacts to US official’s claim of Iran using Malaysian parties to sell oil in region

- Zunaira Saieed

Malaysia will recognise sanctions imposed by the United Nations only and not by individual countries, said Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on May 9, following claims by a top US official that Iran has relied on Malaysian service providers to sell US-sanctioned oil in the region.

"I emphasised that we will only recognise sanctions if they are imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

"The delegation from the US respected our stance," Datuk Seri Saifuddin told reporters following a meeting with the US Treasury Department's top sanctions official Brian Nelson, who was visiting Kuala Lumpur.

Washington has imposed sanctions on Iran and its proxies, including on the sale of Iranian oil, aimed at choking money flows that it claimed were being used to foment instability in the Middle East.

Mr Nelson, speaking to the local media after the meeting, said of the Washington claims against Malaysian service providers: "I would only say we have seen and we've promulgated some sort of guidance to the (Malaysian) marine sector about the type of services that they are engaging in.

"These are ship-to-ship transfers, particularly at night, which we see from time to time.