Authorities in Gibraltar said late last night they had rejected the US’s renewed request that the British territory not release an Iranian supertanker.
The vessel, Grace 1, has been detained for more than a month for allegedly attempting to breach EU sanctions imposed on Syria.
In a statement last night, Gibraltar’s government said the ship would be free to go, as US sanctions on Iran had no equivalent in Britain or the rest of the EU.
“The EU sanctions regime against Iran, which is applicable in Gibraltar, is much narrower than that applicable in the US,” the statement said.
The US had unsealed a warrant on Friday to seize the vessel, a day after Gibraltar lifted the ship’s detention. The vessel remains at anchor off Gibraltar, laden with 2.1 million barrels of Iranian light crude oil. A new crew is expected to arrive and sail the tanker to an undisclosed destination as early as this morning (AEST).
In a federal warrant issued in Washington, the US Justice Department alleged the tanker used the US financial system in an attempt to send an illicit shipment of crude oil to Syria from Iran.
The warrant said the shipment was meant to benefit Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the Trump administration designated a terrorist organisation this year.
According to the warrant, the US sought the confiscation of the vessel, its cargo and a sum of $US995,000 ($1.46m) in cash.
Read the article by Benoit Faucon in The Australian (from The Wall Street Journal).