Shipowner expects oil flow to withstand Hormuz crisis

ATHENS

A Greek shipowner whose family’s oil tankers were hit by missiles during the 1980s Iran-iraq War said he expects Persian Gulf crude exports to continue after Iran’s threats to block shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Stable prices of oil, gold and the dollar are a sign to investors the Islamic republic won’t halt shipments in response to a proposed European Union ban on its crude exports, Polys Haji-iannou, 52, said.

Iranian Vice-president Mohammad Reza Rahimi threatened on Dec. 27 to block the transit point for a fifth of the oil traded worldwide if sanctions are imposed in response to the country’s nuclear program.

“Things will calm down within the next one or two weeks,” HajiIannou, said. “Even if there are EU sanctions, they will calm down.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is planning to hold naval exercises in the Persian Gulf near

Things will calm down within the next one or two weeks GREEK SHIPPING MAGNATE POLYS HAJI-IANNOU

the strait, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi was cited as saying by the Fars news agency today. The drills would be held in Iran’s southern waters in the “near future,” he said.

European foreign ministers aim to announce harsher penalties on Iran’s energy and banking industries at a meeting Jan. 30, according to EU spokesman Michael Mann. The region moved closer to banning oil imports from the country yesterday after Greece lifted objections to an embargo.

Washington also supports further measures on Iran over its nuclear program, which the U.S. and several allies say poses a nuclear-weapons threat.

Tehran says its nuclear efforts are for civilian purposes and to generate electricity.

Since Rahimi’s threat, New Yorktraded crude has gained 0.9 per cent to $102.24 a barrel, gold for immediate delivery has advanced 1.9 per cent to $1,623.07 per ounce, and a euro buys 78 cents US compared with 77 cents US.

Haji-iannou, whose father Loucas had a fleet of 52 oil carriers during the so-called Tankers War, said 20 of them were shipping crude from the Persian Gulf during the conflict, which ended in 1988. In total the ships were hit by missiles 28 times, he said.