The super tanker with Iranian oil set for more than six weeks has left Gibraltar. This was announced by the Iranian ambassador in London, Hamid Baeidinedschad, on his Instagram page on Monday night. „We hereby confirm that after 45 days our tanker left Gibraltar for international waters,“ wrote the ambassador.
According to Marine Traffic, which specializes in shipping, the supertanker started on Sunday evening. Destination is therefore the port Kalamata on the peninsula Peloponnese in Greece. Two teams of experts had made the ship ready, according to Baeidchenschad.
The Supreme Court of the British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula had granted the tanker on Thursday free ride. This raises hope of de-escalation in the smoldering conflict between Iran and several Western countries, including Britain and the US.
US wanted to prevent tankers from leaking
The authorities in Gibraltar and the British Royal Navy had flagged the Panamanian tanker in Gibraltar in early July on suspicion of illegal oil supplies to Syria. Thus the ship would violate EU sanctions against civil war, was the allegation. The State Department in London stressed that Iran must now stick to its pledge not to bring the cargo to Syria.
The tanker „Grace 1“ has now been renamed „Adrian Darya-1“ and should go under the Iranian flag, as Tehran announced. Washington tried in vain to prevent the tanker from running out. A US federal court wanted to have the ship seized. This was rejected by the government in Gibraltar but on Sunday: The decision of a federal court in Washington was „inseparably“ connected with the sanctions of the USA against Iran, which were however not comparable with those of the European Union, it was said.
Iran with threatening gestures
The US Department of Justice justified the requisite confiscation in a communication with alleged violations of US sanctions, money laundering laws and terrorism statutes. The court also ordered the seizure of the oil on board the tanker and nearly a million dollars in bank assets of a mailbox company, which should have connections to the ship. The US Procuratorate said the ship was part of a plan by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to support Iran’s illegal deliveries to Syria.
The captain and other members of the crew were temporarily arrested, but were released. Tehran threatened retaliation and repeatedly ordered the British Ambassador. Iran finally turned in and changed the tanker’s destination, Gibraltar’s government said. Tehran insisted that the oil was never destined for Syria.
Conflict for months
For months, a dispute has been smoldering between Iran and several western states, above all the US, which is being fought on international shipping lanes. The administration of US President Donald Trump had classified the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization in April. The US has also imposed harsh sanctions on Iran, targeting mainly the country’s oil sector.
Only two weeks after the supertanker had been set down, the Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz had stopped British oil tanker Stena Impero. The reason given was that the ship had failed to comply with international maritime rules, switched off its GPS system and carried environmentally harmful materials on board. An Iran proposed replacement of the two tankers rejected the new British government.
Everyone wants to have won
After the release of the ship, both Gibraltar and Iran claimed to have emerged victorious from the showdown. Tehran has achieved a „diplomatic victory,“ said Mahmoud Waesi, the chief of staff of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to the state news agency IRNA. Gibraltar’s Prime Minister Fabian Picardo, however, spoke of „the most successful implementation of European sanctions so far“.
Behind the tensions between Iran and the US is the nuclear dispute between the two countries. The Americans accuse the Iranian leadership of wanting to build nuclear weapons. Tehran rejects this. The United States left the international nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, which was designed to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb while ending its political and economic isolation. Since leaving the agreement, the US has been pressuring Tehran with massive economic sanctions to negotiate a more stringent and expanded agreement. Iran resists pressure so far.
