US threatens sanctions over tanker release

URGES GIBRALTAR AND UK TO RECONSIDER DECISION ON ‘GRACE 1’

The United States is gravely disappointed with the United Kingdom after a Gibraltar court allowed the release of an Iranian tanker suspected of hauling oil to Syria, and threatened sanctions against ports, banks and anyone else who does business with the ship or its crew, two administration officials said.

The court’s decision Thursday to release the Grace 1 was a missed opportunity and the Trump administration hopes the UK government and authorities in Gibraltar will reconsider, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified. They said the court order rewards Iranian terrorism and Tehran will interpret the action as appeasement.

The Grace 1 had been held in Gibraltar after British forces seized it last month on suspicion that it was hauling Iranian crude oil to Syria. The United States Department of Justice is seeking to block the vessel’s release, but the Gibraltar Supreme Court on Thursday said American authorities hadn’t filed the appropriate legal application.

The two administration officials said the Grace 1 should now be considered a pariah. Anyone that does business with the ship, its crew or its owners, or provides financial

transactions or port services to the vessel could be liable for evading US sanctions, the officials said.

They argued that the UK should think of the tanker issue in terms of the broader relationship with the US, particularly as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government presses forward with departing the European Union and seeks a free-trade agreement with the US.