Nine ships from Iran are deleted from Sierra Leone shipping registry

SIERRA Leone has taken nine ships off its shipping register in response to an investigation which revealed that the vessels were operated by IRISL, Iran's embattled shipping line, according to the head of the West African state's maritime authority.

The move comes amid a push by the United States and its allies to ground Iran's global oil carrier fleet by calling on nations not to award their flags to ships from Iran as they twist the screws on Tehran by intensifying economic sanctions for allegedly developing nuclear weapons.

The United States has long banned Iranian oil imports and through new economic sanctions is preventing most other major nations from importing oil from Iran.

"The vessels were deleted as a result of the fact that the companies that registered the said vessels were actually subsidiaries owned and controlled by IRISL," said acting executive director of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration Wurroh Jalloh, according to Reuters.