Gibraltar decides to free Iranian tanker

Britain’s Mediterranean territory Gibraltar decided on Thursday to free a seized Iranian oil tanker, but did not immediately indicate when or if the ship would set sail after the United States launched a new, last-minute legal bid to hold it.

The Grace 1 was seized by British Royal Marine commandos in darkness off the coast of the territory at the western mouth of the Mediterranean on July 4 on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran.

Two weeks later, Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz leading into the Gulf.

The two tankers have become pawns in the standoff between Iran and the West, their fate tangled up in the diplomatic differences between the EU’s big powers and the United States.

The owner of an Iranian oil tanker that was seized off Gibraltar says the ship will head to Mediterranean ports, an Iranian maritime official was quoted as saying on Thursday, after Gibraltar decided to free the tanker.

“According to an announcement by the owner of the tanker, the destination of Grace 1 will be Mediterranean ports,” the deputy head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation, Jalil Eslami, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency. He did not name the owner.

Britain’s Mediterranean territory Gibraltar has decided to free the tanker, but did not immediately indicate when or if the ship would set sail after the United States launched a new, last-minute legal bid to hold it.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo decided to lift the detention order after formal written assurances from Tehran that the ship would not discharge its 2.1 million barrels of oil in Syria.

“In light of the assurances we have received, there are no longer any reasonable grounds for the continued legal detention of the Grace 1 in order to ensure compliance with the EU Sanctions Regulation,” Picardo said.

However, Gibraltar officials did not make clear whether the US legal bid would mean the ship would have to be detained further or, if so, for how long. “Separately, the United States Department of Justice has requested that a new legal procedure for the detention of the vessel should be commenced,” Picardo said. “That is a matter for our independent Mutual Legal Assistance authorities who will make an objective, legal determination of that request for separate proceedings.”

Reuters