Local authorities in the British territory of Gibraltar on Thursday released a seized Iranian oil tanker that was at the heart of a fierce international dispute, despite a last-minute plea from the Trump administration to keep it in custody.
The supertanker Grace 1 was boarded by British authorities off the coast of Gibraltar on July 4 on suspicions that it was transporting millions of barrels of crude oil to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in violation of sanctions imposed by the European Union.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in retaliation detained the British-flagged Stena Impero two weeks later, and Britain responded by dispatching a second warship to the Gulf to offer greater protection to merchant shipping.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement that he “received written assurance” from Iran that the Grace 1’s cargo would not be delivered to Syria.
“I welcome that assurance,” Mr. Picardo said, adding there were “no longer any reasonable grounds for the continued legal detention.”
The order to free the tanker was confirmed despite a last-minute appeal by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice not to let the Grace 1 go.
Mr. Picardo said the U.S.’ request “is a matter for our independent Mutual Legal Assistance authorities, who will make an objective, legal determination of that request for separate proceedings.” It was still not clear if the tanker has physically been allowed to leave Gibraltar.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment at deadline.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted after Grace 1’s release “Nothing changes the fact: detention was 100% unlawful.”
He claimed the U.S. government, engaged in a major economic sanctions campaign against Tehran, “attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas. This piracy attempt is indicative of [the Trump administration’s] contempt for the law.”
Experts say that although the release may not be the extension of an olive branch by London to Iran, it is likely to ease the atmosphere after weeks of escalating tensions. Britain, along with France and Germany, has worked to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that President Trump repudiated last year.
“I think it’s more about damage control,” Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said in an interview.
While the government of new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to join a U.S.-organized effort to protect shipping in the heavily trafficked Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, London has not embraced the U.S. stance to cut off all ties with Tehran.
Mr. Vatanka said the release of the oil tanker is an opportunity for the U.K. to tell the Trump administration, “You know what — we still don’t think that you have a convincing plan to deal with the Iranian challenge.”
While the release comes in the wake of tensions between Iran and the U.K., a Foreign Office spokesperson said “there is no comparison or linkage between Iran’s unacceptable and illegal seizure of, and attacks on, commercial shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the enforcement of EU Syria sanctions by the government of Gibraltar.”
The Reuters news agency reported Iranian port official said the Grace 1 would head to “Mediterranean ports,” citing what he said was “an announcement by the owner of the tanker.”
According to the BBC, the British-flagged Stena Impero, which was seized by Iranian authorities on July 19 due to “non-compliance with international maritime laws and regulations,” remains docked in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
Gibraltar’s move could lead to the eventual release of the Stena Impero, Mr. Vatanka said, but tensions are unlikely to abate in the region soon.
“Clearly the Iranians are hurting, they’re bleeding, and they have a very simple mission ahead of them, which is to convince the rest of the world — particularly the West — that if they’re going to go down, they’re going to try and bring as many down with them as possible,” he said.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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