Iran has relied on Malaysian service providers to get around international sanctions and sell its oil in the region. File (Image used for representation purpose only)
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran has relied on Malaysian service providers to get around international sanctions and sell its oil in the region, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on May 7 .

Washington has imposed significant sanctions on Iran and its proxies aimed at choking financial flows it said were being used to foment instability in the Middle East.

Tehran’s oil sales in East Asia have financed its armed proxies, including Palestinian militant group Hamas and Yemen’s Huthis, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The oil shipments have been sent to buyers in the region through waters near Singapore and Malaysia, the official said.

“The capacity of Iran to move its oil has relied on these types of service providers that are based in Malaysia. We want to have a direct conversation with Malaysians about that,” the official added.

“Stopping these oil shipments will deal a critical blow to Iran’s ability to fund these attacks around the world including the Houthi attacks that are currently threatening commercial shipping.”

The U.S. Treasury will work with maritime operators and banking executives in Singapore and Malaysia to stop the sales, the official added.

Washington also wants to “prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where Hamas perceives that it can both fundraise and then move money”, the official said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last month that Washington was working to diminish Iran’s ability to export oil, adding there might be “more that we could do”.

Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 34,789 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.

A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a store belonging to a Malaysian chain that had offered socks bearing the word “Allah” for sale, the police said on March 30.

The incident came days after the mini-market chain’s executives were charged with hurting religious feelings over the sale of the socks at another of its stores.

Wan Mohamad Zahari Wan Busu, police chief in Kuantan city in Malaysia’s east, said the KK Supermart branch had been hit just before dawn, causing a small fire at the entrance.

He said that the attack was “still under investigation, but we’re not denying that it may be related to the incident involving stockings with the word Allah”.

Employees put out the fire with an extinguisher and no injuries were reported, he said.

Pictures of the socks spread on social media this month, sparking public outrage among some Muslims who regarded them as insulting, especially because they went up for sale during the holy fasting month of Ramzan.

Islam is the official religion in Malaysia and Malay-Muslims make up more than two-thirds of the population of 34 million.

Race and religion are thorny issues in Malaysia, which witnessed deadly racial riots in 1969.

KK Super Mart CEO Chai Kee Kan, 57, and his wife, who serves as a company director, were charged this week with “deliberately intending to hurt the religious feelings” of Malaysians, according to a charge sheet seen by AFP.

Three officials from supplier Xin Jian Chang were also charged with abetting them.

All five pleaded not guilty and face a maximum jail term of one year or a fine, or both, if convicted.

The case drew a rare royal rebuke from Malaysia’s king, who called for an investigation and “strict action” against any party found guilty.

KK Supermart, Malaysia’s second-largest mini-market chain, has apologised for the socks, saying it viewed the matter “seriously” and had taken action to stop their sale immediately.

Supplier Xin Jian Chang also issued an apology, saying the “problematic socks were part of a larger shipment of 18,800 pairs ordered” from a company based in China.

Melbourne:

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Monday he would be “happy to reopen” the search for flight MH370 if “compelling” evidence emerged, opening the door to a renewed hunt a decade after the plane disappeared.
“If there is compelling evidence that it needs to be reopened, we will certainly be happy to reopen it,” he said when asked about the matter during a visit to Melbourne.

His comments came as the families marked 10 years since the plane vanished in the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard.

“I don’t think it’s a technical issue. It’s an issue affecting the lives of people and whatever needs to be done must be done,” he said.

Malaysia Airlines flight 370, a Boeing 777 aircraft, disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found and the operation was suspended in January 2017.

About 500 relatives and their supporters gathered Sunday at a shopping centre near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur for a “remembrance day”, with many visibly overcome with grief.

Some of the relatives came from China, where almost two-thirds of the passengers of the doomed plane were from.

“The last 10 years have been a nonstop emotional rollercoaster for me,” Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, 56, was on the flight, told AFP.

Speaking to the crowd, she called on the Malaysian government to conduct a new search.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke told reporters that “as far Malaysia is concerned, it is committed to finding the plane… cost is not the issue”.

He told relatives at the gathering that he would meet with officials from Texas-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which conducted a previous unsuccessful search, to discuss a new operation.

“We are now awaiting for them to provide suitable dates and I hope to meet them soon,” he said.

An earlier Australia-led search that covered 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 square miles) in the Indian Ocean found hardly any trace of the plane, with only some pieces of debris picked up.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Malaysia’s Queen Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah hugs her brother Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor after the election for the next Malaysian king at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur on October 27, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Malaysia’s royalty on Friday chose an influential sultan from the southern state of Johor to be the country’s next king.

The position is largely ceremonial but oversees major appointments such as the Prime Minister and serves as the head of Islam in the Muslim-majority country and the commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement where the throne changes hands every five years between rulers of the nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty.

Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar was appointed the country’s 17th king after a conference of rulers in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The 64-year-old will be sworn in after the incumbent king’s term expires on January 31 next year, before a coronation ceremony several months later.

The system has been in place since independence from Britain in 1957. The outgoing king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, ascended the throne in 2019.

Ibrahim hails from the wealthy and powerful Johor royal family, the head of which commands its private army.

He has a close relationship with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and often comments on Malaysian politics.

He is a hands-on monarch and a fully trained army, navy and air force officer who studied abroad in the United States.

The king also wields the power to pardon convicted figures. In 2018 Sultan Muhammad V, one of Ibrahim’s predecessors, pardoned Anwar, who had served a jail sentence for sodomy.

The role of the king in Malaysia is accorded considerable prestige, particularly among the country’s Malay Muslim majority. Criticism deemed to incite contempt of the king can attract a jail term.

The last time a Johor sultan became king was 39 years ago when Ibrahim’s father, Sultan Iskandar was proclaimed as Malaysia’s eighth king in 1984.