Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Defiant to US, Gibraltar Releases Iran Supertanker


Fri 16 Aug 2019 | 07:45 AM
Yassmine Elsayed

Amid objections from the US, the British overseas territory of Gibraltar released a seized Iranian supertanker Thursday, potentially easing tensions between London and Tehran, which still holds a British-flagged vessel.

The release of the Grace 1 comes amid a growing confrontation between Iran and the West after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the U.S. could still begin a new legal procedure for seizing the Grace 1, but that provisions under the European Union's sanctions regulations were ending Thursday after the Iranian government assured him in writing that the ship will not send its 2.1 million barrels of crude to a sanctioned entity in Syria.

Hours prior to the release, Washington made a last minute bid to halt the release of the Iranian ship. US Justice Department made an application to extend the detention of the oil tanker but the request was denied by a judge in Gibraltar.

On his part, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the U.S. of trying to "steal our property on the high seas."

"Having failed to accomplish its objectives through its EconomicTerrorism — including depriving cancer patients of medicine — the US attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas," Zarif tweeted, calling the Trump administration's moves a "piracy attempt."

Previously, Gibraltar said it had "solid documentary evidence" that the vessel was bound for Syria when it was detained on July 4, but that the political fallout had prompted talks with Iranian officials in London.