A crew member checks the new name of Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya, formerly known as Grace 1, off the coast of Gibraltar on Sunday (AFP photo)

GIBRALTAR — Gibraltar on Sunday rejected a US demand to seize an Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a diplomatic dispute as it prepared to leave the British overseas territory after weeks of detention.

Gibraltar's government said it could not seek a court order to detain the supertanker because US sanctions against Iran were not applicable in the European Union.

"The EU sanctions regime against Iran — which is applicable in Gibraltar — is much narrower than that applicable in the US," the Gibraltar authorities said in a statement.

Iran's ambassador to London said in a Tweet that "the vessel should set sail this evening", with fresh crew arriving.

A Gibraltar judge ordered the Grace 1 tanker released on Thursday, weeks after authorities seized the vessel on suspicion of transporting oil to Syria in breach of European sanctions. Iran has repeatedly denied this.

But on Friday the US Justice Department filed a request to detain the ship alleging it was involved in supporting illicit shipments to Syria by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, listed as a terrorist group by Washington.

The seizure triggered a sharp deterioration in relations between Tehran and London. Iran subsequently detained the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in what was seen as a tit-for-tat move.

The US Justice Department says the Grace 1 — now renamed the Adrian Darya — and its oil are subject to forfeiture because of US sanctions violations. </s> Gibraltar has rejected a renewed US request demanding the seizure of the tanker Grace 1, which has been renamed Adrian Darya 1. The decision comes days after it lifted the weeks-long detention and allowed the vessel set sail.

The British overseas territory rejected a warrant issued Friday by a federal court in Washington that sought the supertanker's arrest, the oil it carried and the almost $1 million found on board. The US request came into conflict with the EU law under which Gibraltar governs, and led “to the differences in the sanctions regimes applicable to Iran in the EU and the US,” it said in a statement on Sunday.

“The EU sanctions regime against Iran –which is applicable in Gibraltar– is much narrower than that applicable in the US,” it explained.

This was the second time in a week that Washington tried to prevent Grace 1 from departing Gibraltar. On Thursday, the Justice Department made a last-minute effort to seize the oil tanker, filing the necessary formal request just hours before it had been cleared to set sail.

At that time, local authorities managed to withstand the diplomatic torpedo fired by the US at efforts by the UK to defuse tensions with Tehran, lifting a detention order Gibraltar had earlier issued for the vessel, with the backing of the British.

The US based its seizure requests on a claim that ‘Adrian Darya 1’ was ferrying Iranian crude to Syria under the auspices of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US but not the EU or other world powers.

Also, there was a “scheme to unlawfully access the US financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the IRGC,” the Justice Department alleged.

However, none of the allegations were compelling enough for the UK-governed enclave, as these “would not constitute offences in Gibraltar had they occurred in Gibraltar.” There are no “equivalent sanctions against Iran in Gibraltar, the UK or the rest of the EU,” the statement noted.

If you like this story, share it with a friend! </s> GIBRALTAR (Reuters) - The Iranian tanker caught in a stand-off between Tehran and the West is expected to leave Gibraltar on Sunday night, Iran’s ambassador to Britain said, hours after the British territory rejected a U.S. request to detain the vessel further.

British Royal Marines seized the tanker in Gibraltar in July on suspicion that it was carrying oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran, in violation of European Union sanctions. That triggered a series of events that have heightened tensions on international oil shipping routes through the Gulf.

“The vessel is expected to leave tonight,” envoy Hamid Baeidinejad said on Twitter, adding that two engineering teams had been flown to Gibraltar.

The Grace 1’s detention ended last week, but on Friday a federal court in Washington issued a warrant for the seizure of the tanker, the oil it carries and nearly $1 million.

Gibraltar said on Sunday it could not comply with that request because it was bound by EU law.

“The EU sanctions regime against Iran – which is applicable in Gibraltar - is much narrower than that applicable in the US,” the government said in a statement.

“The Gibraltar Central Authority is unable to seek an Order of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar to provide the restraining assistance required by the United States of America.”

Washington had attempted to detain the Grace 1 on the grounds that it had links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it has designated a terrorist organization.

Iran has denied the tanker was ever headed to Syria.

Tehran said it was ready to dispatch its naval fleet to escort the tanker - now renamed the ‘Adrian Darya-1’ - if required.

“The era of hit and run is over ... if top authorities ask the navy, we are ready to escort out tanker Adrian,” Iran’s navy commander, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.

On Sunday, video footage and photographs showed the tanker flying the red, green and white flag of Iran and bearing its new name, painted in white, on the hull. Its previous name, ‘Grace 1’, had been painted over. The vessel’s anchor was still down.

The initial impounding of the Grace 1 sparked a diplomatic row that escalated when Tehran seize a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf two weeks later. That tanker, the Stena Impero, is still detained.

The two vessels have since become pawns in a bigger game, feeding into wider hostilities since the United States last year pulled out of an international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, and reimposed economic sanctions.

Iran has denounced U.S. efforts to set up an international maritime security coalition in the Gulf and insisted regional countries could protect the strategic waterway and work toward signing a non-aggression pact.

On a trip to Kuwait on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet that “Iran’s proposal for Regional Dialogue Forum and non-aggression pact trumps reliance on extraneous actors”.

The Grace 1 had originally flown the Panamian flag but Panama’s Maritime Authority said in July that the vessel had been de-listed after an alert that indicated the ship had participated in or was linked to terrorism financing. </s> A view of the Grace 1 super tanker with the name removed is seen in the British territory of Gibraltar, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. The shipping agent for an Iranian supertanker caught in a diplomatic standoff says the vessel is ready to depart Gibraltar in “24 to 48 hours,” despite a last-minute effort by the United States to seize it again. (AP Photo/Marcos Moreno)

MADRID (AP) — Authorities in Gibraltar on Sunday rejected the United States’ latest request not to release a seized Iranian supertanker, clearing the way for the vessel to set sail after being detained last month for allegedly attempting to breach European Union sanctions on Syria.

The ship was expected to leave Sunday night, according to a statement on Twitter by Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran’s ambassador to Britain.

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

Shortly after the tanker’s detention in early July near Gibraltar — a British overseas territory — Iran seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which remains held by the Islamic Republic. Analysts had said the Iranian ship’s release by Gibraltar could see the Stena Impero go free.

Gibraltar’s government said Sunday it was allowing the Iranian tanker’s release because “The EU sanctions regime against Iran – which is applicable in Gibraltar – is much narrower than that applicable in the US.”

In a last-ditch effort to stop the release, the U.S. unsealed a warrant Friday to seize the vessel and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil, citing violations of U.S. sanctions as well as money laundering and terrorism statutes.

U.S. officials told reporters that the oil aboard the ship was worth some $130 million and that it was destined for a designated terror organization to conduct more terrorism.

The unsealed court documents argued that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are the ship’s true owners through a network of front companies.

Authorities in Gibraltar said Sunday that, unlike in the U.S., the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is not designated a terrorist organization under EU, U.K. or Gibraltar law.

The Iranian ship was detained while sailing under a Panamanian flag with the name Grace 1. As of Sunday, it had been renamed the Adrian Darya 1 and had hoisted an Iranian flag. Workers were seen painting the new name on the side of the ship Saturday.

Iran has not disclosed the Adrian Darya 1’s intended destination and has denied it was ever sailing for Syria.

The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, said he had been assured in writing by the Iranian government that the tanker wouldn’t unload its cargo in Syria.

Baeidinejad, Iran’s ambassador to Britain, said in a series of tweets that “round-the-clock efforts to carry out port formalities and deploy the full crew onto the ship” had taken place since Gibraltar lifted the vessel’s detention Thursday.

The Astralship shipping agency in Gibraltar, which has been hired to handle paperwork and arrange logistics for the Adrian Darya 1, had told The Associated Press that a new crew of Indian and Ukrainian nationals were replacing the sailors on board.

Astralship managing director Richard De la Rosa said his company had not been informed about the vessel’s next destination.

Messages seeking comment from the Iranian Embassy in London were not immediately returned.

AP reporters Raphael Satter in London and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. </s> Authorities in Gibraltar today rejected the United States' latest request not to release a seized Iranian supertanker, clearing the way for the vessel to set sail after being detained last month for allegedly attempting to breach European Union sanctions on Syria.

The ship was expected to leave this morning, according to a statement on Twitter by Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran's ambassador to Britain.

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

Shortly after the tanker's detention in early July near Gibraltar — a British overseas territory — Iran seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which remains held by the Islamic Republic. Analysts had said the Iranian ship's release by Gibraltar could see the Stena Impero go free.

Gibraltar's government said today it was allowing the Iranian tanker's release because "The EU sanctions regime against Iran - which is applicable in Gibraltar - is much narrower than that applicable in the US."

In a last-ditch effort to stop the release, the US unsealed a warrant Saturday to seize the vessel and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil, citing violations of US sanctions as well as money laundering and terrorism statutes.

US officials told reporters that the oil aboard the ship was worth some $130 million ($202 million NZD) and that it was destined for a designated terror organisation to conduct more terrorism.

Authorities in Gibraltar said today that, unlike in the US, the Iran's Revolutionary Guard is not designated a terrorist organisation under EU, UK or Gibraltar law.

The Iranian ship was detained while sailing under a Panamanian flag with the name Grace 1. As of today, it had been renamed the Adrian Darya 1 and had hoisted an Iranian flag. Workers were seen painting the new name on the side of the ship yesterday.

Iran has not disclosed the Adrian Darya 1's intended destination and has denied it was ever sailing for Syria.

The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, said he had been assured in writing by the Iranian government that the tanker wouldn't unload its cargo in Syria.

Baeidinejad, Iran's ambassador to Britain, said in a series of tweets that "round-the-clock efforts to carry out port formalities and deploy the full crew onto the ship" had taken place since Gibraltar lifted the vessel's detention Friday.

The Astralship shipping agency in Gibraltar, which has been hired to handle paperwork and arrange logistics for the Adrian Darya 1, had told The Associated Press that a new crew of Indian and Ukrainian nationals were replacing the sailors on board.

Astralship managing director Richard De la Rosa said his company had not been informed about the vessel's next destination. </s> Gibraltar’s government says it has knocked back a request by Washington to detain the Adrian Darya 1 supertanker, which was seized by British marines in the Strait of Gibraltar last month carrying Iranian oil.

“The EU sanctions regime on Iran is fundamentally different to that of the US,” the Gibraltar Government said in a statement on Sunday.

“The Gibraltar Central Authority [for Mutual Legal Assistance] is unable seek an Order of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar to provide the restraining assistance required by the United States of America,” it said.

The statement added, "“The Central Authority's inability to seek the orders requested is a result of the operation of European Union law and the differences in the sanctions regimes applicable to Iran in the EU and the US.”

On Friday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), on several allegations, unveiled a warrant for the seizure of the Iran-operated supertanker, which now raises an Iranian flag and has changed its name to Adrian Darya 1.

The DOJ also alleged that there had been “a scheme to unlawfully access the US financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran.”

Britain’s naval forces unlawfully seized the vessel, then known as Grace 1, and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of oil in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4 under the pretext that the supertanker had been suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of the European Union’s unilateral sanctions against the Arab country.

Consisting of an irregular imposition of EU regulations on a non-EU member state, the measure was vehemently condemned by Tehran as being an act of “maritime piracy" done at the request of Washington.

In a related development, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said on Sunday that the country's naval forces are ready to escort Adrian Darya-1 if it is required to do so.

The commander, however, added that Iran's Navy has no current plan to dispatch any fleet to Gibraltar to escort the supertanker, but is ready to do so if demanded by relevant Iranian authorities.

Khanzadi further emphasized that the Armed Forces are “part of the country’s marine power,” adding, “We are part of this mechanism, which support marine navigation in the country.”

'Iran-operated tanker to set sail later on Sunday'

Meanwhile, Iran’s Ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad said that the vessel is expected to leave Gibraltar late Sunday.

"The ship is expected to set sail tonight after two specialized engineering teams arrive in Gibraltar via two different flight routes," the Iranian envoy said in a post on his Twitter page.

Earlier on Sunday, Baeidinejad rejected claims that Tehran renamed the tanker to avoid US sanctions, saying the move was in line with international maritime rules.

He added that Iran renamed Grace 1 to Adrian Darya-1 simply because Panama as the previous flag state of the ship had refused to continue to keep it registered after it was detained in Gibraltar for alleged breach of sanctions on Syria.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> Gibraltar refused a US request to seize the Iranian tanker Grace 1 on Sunday, saying it was unable to comply because it was bound by European Union law.

A federal court in Washington on Friday issued a warrant for the seizure of the tanker, the oil it carries and nearly $1 million.

British Royal Marines had detained the vessel in Gibraltar in July on suspicion that it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

“The Central Authority’s inability to seek the Orders requested is a result of the operation of European Union law and the differences in the sanctions regimes applicable to Iran in the EU and the US,” a Gibraltar government statement said.

“The EU sanctions regime against Iran - which is applicable in Gibraltar - is much narrower than that applicable in the US.”

Earlier on Sunday, the tanker has raised an Iranian flag and has had a new name painted on its side, Reuters images of the stationary vessel filmed off Gibraltar showed on Sunday.

Last Update: Sunday, 18 August 2019 KSA 15:38 - GMT 12:38 </s> A Gibraltar court rejected a U.S. attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker on Sunday, and the ship resumed its journey into the Mediterranean under the Iranian flag and with a new name.

The Grace 1 supertanker, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, had been anchored off Gibraltar since it was intercepted by the British navy July 4 on the grounds that it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. Authorities in Gibraltar lifted the detention order last week after Britain, which rules the territory, received assurances from Iran that the tanker would not take its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of oil to Syria.

But late Friday, the United States intervened, issuing a warrant for the seizure of the ship and its cargo, claiming it was violating not only U.S. sanctions against Syria but also those against Iran.

The Gibraltar court ruled that the American sanctions on Iran, which were imposed by President Trump after he walked away from the Iran nuclear deal last year, do not apply in the European Union.

The sanctions violations charged in the U.S. warrant "would not constitute offenses had they occurred in Gibraltar," the government said in a statement. "There are no equivalent sanctions against Iran in Gibraltar, the UK or the rest of the EU."

Late on Sunday night, the tanker left Gibraltar and sailed into the Mediterranean with a stated destination of the Greek port of Kalamata, according to the website marinetraffic.com.

Iran's ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidinejad, also confirmed on Twitter that the tanker was underway.

Among the charges laid out in the U.S. warrant is that the tanker was facilitating terrorism because of the involvement in Iran's oil industry of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The Gibraltar ruling noted that the E.U. does not regard the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

The court's rejection of the U.S. request raises new questions over where the tanker will go next and whether the United States will attempt to intervene again, perhaps by forcibly intercepting it. No such action has been proposed, but Iranian media speculated that the U.S. Navy, which maintains several bases in the Mediterranean, might attempt to seize the vessel.

Iran's navy commander, Rear Adm. Hossein Khanzadi, offered to dispatch the Iranian navy to escort the Adrian Darya 1, according to Iran's Mehr news agency.

The tanker had been set to leave Gibraltar on Friday after the court lifted its detention order, but the captain and five crew members quit, leaving the ship's owners to recruit replacements.

Photographs posted on social media showed the vessel, painted with its new name and flying the Iranian flag, being readied for departure by men in orange uniforms.

It was unclear whether Iran would release the British tanker seized in the Persian Gulf in apparent retaliation for Britain's detention of the Grace 1, as the ship was then called. </s> Authorities in Gibraltar have released the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1, after receiving assurances that its cargo is not destined for Syria. The US had formally requested them to detain the vessel for a further period.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo agreed to lift the detention on the ship, however, after Tehran gave written assurances that its cargo – 2.1 million barrels of oil – would not be unloaded in Syria.

“In light of the assurances we have received, there are no longer any reasonable grounds for the continued legal detention of the Grace 1 in order to ensure compliance with the EU Sanctions Regulation,” he said.

The United States requested the government of Gibraltar not to release the tanker.

“The US 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 statement, adding that the issue would be reviewed in the courts later on Thursday afternoon.

Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, called Washington’s move “its desperate, last-minute efforts, intended to prevent the release of the [Grace 1] oil tanker from detention” that ended with “humiliation.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also weighed in on Twitter, calling the move an attempt at “piracy.”

“The US attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas,” Zarif said. “This piracy attempt is indicative of Trump admin’s contempt for the law.”

The Grace 1 was seized by the UK outside of Gibraltar in early July, prompting Tehran, two weeks later, to seize a British-flagged vessel in the Persian Gulf. Both sides have denied there were plans to exchange the ships.
Gibraltar authorities reject the request by the U.S. to seize the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1. They argue that EU, not U.S. law, is applicable in Gibraltar. The tanker is also renamed.