Hong Kong has been threatened by the United States of severe penalties being impose against it if it carries out any sort of business with an oil tanker that has allegedly the US sanctions on Iran and is heading to dock in the city.

According to reports quoting a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the US wants to issue a notice to China and the autonomous city of it intending to aggressively and consistently following up on its Iran sanctions. The message that any entity getting into any business deals with the taker would be liable to face U.S. sanctions would be communicated to China, the US official reportedly told the media according to the reports.

The strict intention of the US to dry up Iranian exports of oil is highlighted by the level of attention that it has accorded to this single tanker named the Pacific Bravo. In recent weeks, there has been a sharp deterioration in the relations between the US and Iran after US president Donald Trump pledged to bring down to zero Iranian oil exports which is vital for the economy of this Middle Eastern country. Trump had also revoked a number of key sanctions waivers.

According to reports quoting the senior U.S. official, China’s Bank of Kunlun is the owner of the tanker called Pacific Bravo. Here were media reports in October last year which stated that due ot pressures related to the US sanctions on Iran, this bank would stop handling payments for Iran because it was the once the major channel for transactions for China with Iran.

According to reports quoting ship-tracking data, a vessel called the Pacific Bravo is currently placed off the coast of Sri Lanka and has signaled that it intends to make Indonesia as its next stop even though the US is reportedly claiming that the tanker is on a course to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong will have to ensure that the tanker does not manage to dock itself at its port as well as prevent local entities from providing any form of service to the vessel that could misrepresent itself so that it is able to avoid exposing itself to sanctions violations, the senior U.S. official reportedly told the media according to the reports.

The official reportedly said that the US wants to send a clear message to the world that anyone who does business with Iran would not be doing business with the US. According to the reports, the official also added that more sanctions are yet to come.

At present, it “has no information showing if the respective vessel will enter or pass by Hong Kong waters.” Hong Kong’s Marine Department told the media in an email.

Earlier this month, there were media reports of Iranian fuel oil, of volume of near about 130,000 tons, being unloaded into storage tanks near the eastern Chinese city of Zhoushan by a tanker in violation of U.S. sanctions.

After assuming office of the president of the US, Donald Trump has been using tactics to increase pressure on Iran to denuclearize and had pulled out of the historic 2015 nuclear deal which had given relief from long standing sanctions to Iran while agreeing to put a stop to its nuclear program.

(Adapted from Bloomberg.com)

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