Iranian ‘envoy’ meets with Tonio Borg

According to Iranian news agency MEHR News, the meeting was held on Friday at the foreign affairs ministry in Valletta.

Hossieni was reported to have told Tonio Borg that the "confrontational and hostile approach adopted by certain European countries towards Iran has been ineffective."

The news agency quoted Tonio Borg expressing "hope that the problems between Iran and Europe would be resolved through dialogue."

It is unclear whether ambassador Hosseini and Tonio Borg discussed the Iranian shipping line IRISL, which has been the target of a series of sanctions and constant monitoring by the United States.

When visiting Malta last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Malta's "resilience" in responding and enforcing maritime controls, and its fight against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, referring to Iran.

IRISL - which has been hit by a series of UN and US sanctions - is reportedly preparing an exit from Malta and will cease operations on the island in the coming weeks

Industry sources say Freeport authorities are aware that the blacklisted Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) which made the freeport its Mediterranean transhipment hub would cease operations in November, taking with it a sizeable amount of business. Over 30 vessels entered Malta every month chartered by the Iranian company.

It is not yet clear whether United States and United Kingdom efforts to blacklist all the ships previously owned by IRISL later renamed Hafiz Darya Shipping, has led to the decision.

Malta has been highly cooperative in furnishing the US with information on the activities of Irisl, whose ships were renamed and passed on to a new company called HDS to bypass the US sanctions.

Former US ambassador Molly Bordonaro had noted that it would be "unusual for the Mlatese government to decline to take action on a direct USG request" according to a leaked embassy cable published on Wikileaks.

Malta is revealed by the cables to have worked behind the scenes to strictly limit Iranian access, although it is also clear that there was no intention of shutting down Irisl's operations in Malta.

Government formally adopted EU sanctions against various branches and subsidiaries of Irisl, which used a network of front companies in Malta to evade restrictions on its trade.

Irisl set up 42 companies in Malta registered on various addresses to transfer its ships' ownership to these subsidiaries. Almost half of Irisl's fleet was renamed and registered under the Maltese flag.

Irisl used a Maltese-owned company Royal-Med to serve as the agent for the private Iranian company Hafiz Darya Shipping Lines (HDS) which was created to take over all Irisl business in 2009 after it was hit by a US trading ban over its alleged role in supplying Iran's nuclear weapons programme.

Despite the sanctions, the prohibition did not prevent the execution of contracts concluded before 26 October 2010.

According to US embassy cables, Malta also accepted a firm commitment with the United States to deny requests by Iranian banks to establish a subsidiary, branch, or representative office in Malta.

Iranian bank Melli had been "singled out' in a United Nations Resolution as an "entity of particular concern", with finance minister Tonio Fenech informing the US ambassador that Malta would block Melli's request to use Malta's payment system, via London.

The US also urged Malta to approach law firms so that they institute "œenhanced vigilance"? over transactions with Irisl. In February 2009, law firm Ganado and Associates terminated all aspects of its professional relationship with Irisl.