Iran warns US against oil tanker seizure as ship leaves Gibraltar | World news

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Iran has warned the US against any new attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker in open seas after it left Gibraltar.

SEMrush

The tanker – caught in a standoff between Tehran and the west – was sailing to Greece on Monday after leaving Gibraltar, shipping data showed, hours after the British territory rejected a US request to detain the vessel further. MarineTraffic reported its destination as the Peloponnese city of Kalamata.

Asked whether the US could renew its seizure request after the tanker sailed from Gibraltar, an Iranian foreign ministry said: “Such an action … would endanger shipping safety in open seas. We have issued a warning through official channels, especially the Swiss embassy.”

Switzerland represents US interests in Iran, which has no diplomatic relations with the US.

The ship, renamed as Adrian Darya 1 by Iran, was previously called Grace 1. Filled with 2.1m barrels of oil, its cargo is worth an estimated £115m.

Royal Marines seized the vessel off the shores of Gibraltar on 4 July, saying it was carrying oil bound for Syria in breach of EU sanctions.

That prompted Iran to seize the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Gulf in retaliation a fortnight later, sparking a crisis in diplomatic relations between the two countries. Britain responded by sending out a second warship to the Gulf to offer greater protection to merchant shipping.

Iran has denied that its tanker was ever headed to Syria. The vessel’s detention looked like it had ended last week, after Iran gave a commitment in writing to Gibraltar that it would not sail to Syria or anywhere else covered by EU sanctions.

But there was fresh legal uncertainty on Friday, when a federal court in Washington issued a warrant for the seizure of the supertanker, the oil it carries and nearly $1m (£820,000), saying there had been a breach of US sanctions against Iran.

The US claims the tanker is controlled through a network of front companies by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which are the target of its sanctions and have been designated a terrorist organisation.

However, Gibraltar said on Sunday it could not comply with that request because it was bound by EU law. “The EU sanctions regime on Iran is fundamentally different to that the US,” Gibraltar said. Authorities there added that the Revolutionary Guards were not designated a terrorist organisation under EU, UK or Gibraltar law.

Without the territory agreeing to the US request, there were no immediate legal obstacles left to the supertanker setting sail.

The Astralship shipping agency in Gibraltar, which has been hired to handle paperwork and arrange logistics for the Adrian Darya 1, told the Associated Press that a new crew of Indian and Ukrainian nationals were replacing the sailors on board.

The Iranian ship was detained while sailing under a Panamanian flag under the name Grace 1. On Sunday, video footage and photographs showed the tanker flying the red, green and white flag of Iran and bearing its new name, painted in white, on the hull. Its previous name had been painted over.

Reuters contributed to this report



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