Defying U.S., Gibraltar frees Iranian tanker
Authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday released an Iranian oil tanker they impounded six weeks ago, defying a United States request hours earlier to seize the ship. They also released the ship’s crew from detention.
Iran gave no immediate signal on whether it would soon release a British tanker that it had seized in retaliation, but Iranian officials have previously hinted at the possibility of such a trade. An oil trader in Iran who had been briefed on the dispute said that the British ship would be released once the Iranian tanker had reached Greece.
The moves were the latest sign that officials in Gibraltar, a semiautonomous British territory, Tehran and London, in negotiations over the past few weeks, were trying to step back from an escalating confrontation between Iran and the West, particularly the United States.
The Gibraltar government revealed Thursday morning that the United States had applied to seize the Iranian vessel, Grace 1. The U.S. action was the latest in a series of back-and-forth jabs that the United States and Iran have traded recently, raising fears of escalation into an all-out conflict in the Persian Gulf.
British marines and Gibraltar port officials seized the Iranian ship July 4, charging that it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of a European Union embargo. Iran quickly retaliated by detaining a British-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entryway to the Persian Gulf.
The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, said in a statement Thursday that he had “received written assurance” from Iran the previous day that “if released, the destination of Grace 1 would not be an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions.”
“In light of the assurances we have received,” he added, “there are no longer any reasonable grounds for the continued legal detention of the Grace 1.”
When asked later in a CNN interview where the ship was headed, Picardo said, “That is not an issue for the authorities in Gibraltar.”
The oil trader in Iran said the tanker would sail to Greece and then to Italy, though it remained unclear who would buy Iranian oil in defiance of U.S. sanctions. Iranian officials have insisted that the oil was always bound for Europe, not Syria.
The Iranian government said earlier this week that a deal for the release of the ship was near, which officials in Gibraltar and London would neither confirm nor deny at the time. British officials insisted that it was a matter for the Gibraltar authorities.
A court in Gibraltar ruled last month that the Iranian vessel could be held for an additional 30 days, a period that would have expired Sunday. A follow-up hearing was set for Thursday morning, in which the territory’s government was not expected to ask the court to extend the detention.
But when the court met, Gibraltar officials revealed the U.S. request, and the hearing was adjourned until later in the day.
“The U.S. Department of Justice has applied to seize the Grace 1 on a number of allegations which are now being considered,” the Gibraltar government said in a brief statement.
Picardo said at the time that the Gibraltar authorities would “make an objective, legal determination of that request,” though the point would appear to be moot once the ship sets sail. It was not clear when that would be.
The legal basis for the U.S. request was not immediately clear, but the United States has recently imposed sanctions designed to cut off Iran’s ability to sell oil. Other countries have not signed on to those sanctions, but could face serious economic penalties for defying them.