US in last-minute bid to block release of Iranian tanker
The US Justice Department made a last-ditch attempt to block the freeing of the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 a day after Gibraltar ruled the detained vessel could be released.
It comes after a six-week international standoff appeared to have come to an end when a judge in Gibraltar ordered its release.
But on Friday night, the US issued the warrant while the vessel, which was being investigated for allegedly delivering oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions, was still anchored off the coast of Gibraltar.
Earlier on Friday, Iranian officials said it was due to depart.
According to tracking data, the ship briefly changed its status yesterday from “at anchor” to “under way” before reverting to “at anchor”.
The head of the company sorting paperwork and procuring for the Grace 1 oil tanker in the British overseas territory said the vessel could be motoring away in the next “24 to 48 hours”, once new crews dispatched to the territory take over command of the ship. “The vessel is ongoing some logistical changes and requirements that have delayed the departure,” Astralship managing director Richard De la Rosa told the Associated Press.
The tanker had first been seized by British marines on July 4, sparking a diplomatic crisis between London and Tehran.
The deadline for its seizure was due to end on Thursday and a bid by the US to further detain it failed.
The US Justice Department then issued a warrant for its detention accusing it of being part of “a scheme to unlawfully access the US financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organisation,” the ministry said.
The warrant says the vessel, all the oil aboard and $995,000 are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and bank fraud, money laundering, and terrorism forfeiture statutes.
The Grace 1 was due to be renamed and switch to the Iranian flag for its onward journey – after Panama removed it from its international boat registry listing – the deputy head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation, Jalil Eslami, told Iranian state television Friday.
But it is believed the ship was awaiting the arrival of a new crew before leaving Gibraltar. “At the owner’s request, the
Grace 1 will depart for the Mediterranean after being reflagged under the Islamic Republic of Iran’s flag and renamed as Adrian Darya for the
voyage,” Mr Eslami said, giving further details of the ship’s departure. “The ship was of Russian origin and Panama-flagged and is carrying two million barrels of Iranian oil.”
Speaking to the BBC, Gibraltar’s First Minister Fabian Picardo said the ship could depart Gibraltar when it is ready.
“She is able to leave as soon as she organises the logistics necessary in order to sail a ship of that size,” Mr Picardo said, referring to the tanker.
However, Mr Picardo said that the ship could still be obstructed in its departure if a US legal bid to stop it succeeds, Reuters reported.
“It could go back to the court absolutely,” Mr Picardo said of the US appeal to Gibraltar’s supreme court. Officials in Gibraltar and Britain have declined to comment on the status of the US appeal.
In a tweet on Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned sailors aboard the ship that they could be barred from entering the US if they continue to serve on the tanker.
At the same time, the captain indicated that he wanted to relinquish command of the vessel. His lawyer said repairs were needed on board Grace 1 and this could prevent its departure, the Associated Press reported.
Mixed messages came from Iran and Gibraltar as to the terms for the release of Grace 1.
Mr Picardo said on Thursday that the release had been granted after written assurances from Tehran that the ship would not be destined for an entity subject to EU sanctions.
The tanker had originally been stopped on the grounds it was carrying its cargo of crude oil to Baniyas Oil Refinery in Syria.
Tehran said no such guarantees were made and accused Gibraltar of trying to save face.
“Iran has given no assurances over the Grace 1 not going to Syria to secure its release,” the state broadcaster’s youth website quoted foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying on Friday. “The tanker’s destination was not Syria … and even if it was, it did not concern anyone else.”
The standoff over Grace 1 has played out against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Iran, the US and its Arab allies. In May last year the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, delivering on promises by President Donald Trump to tear up the 2015 agreement.
Britain’s uneasy diplomatic position between the US and Europe, which has tried to salvage the nuclear deal, over Iran was brought into sharp focus when Iran seized the British-flagged
Stena Impero on July 19 in the Strait of Hormuz, 15 days after
Grace 1 was boarded by the British off Gibraltar.