EMEA News
Alleged Iranian Plot Would Spill Oil in Strait of Hormuz
Western intelligence agencies say Iranian officials have been considering a plan to create a huge oil spill in the Strait of Hormuz that could temporarily close the channel and force Western countries to suspend their sanctions against Iran, Der Spiegel reports.
The plan acquired by Western agents, marked "top secret" and code-named "Murky Water," is the product of Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders.
It describes creating a massive catastrophe by steering a supertanker into a rock, forcing the International Compensation Fund for Oil Pollution Damage to help deal with the situation, which it could only do with technical assistance from Iranian authorities.
To get that assistance, the West would have to lift its sanctions, at least temporarily.
The plan also suggests the Iranian people would rally around the government in the face of such a disaster, and would be distracted from the nation's economic situation.
Another motivation for the plan is to "punish" Arab countries that are hostile to Iran.
Western intelligence experts call the plan an expression of frustration in a nation that gets more than half its government revenue from oil exports and has seen those exports fall from 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in July 2011 to 1 million bpd one year later.
The sabotage plan is reported to be in the hands of top Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
European Union leaders agreed yesterday to tighten sanctions against Iran.
Titan Petrochemicals Group Ltd. (Titan) [HKG:1192] recently became the first shipping company to lose its insurance under Western sanctions.
