Iran tanker shifts position but still at anchor off Gibraltar
The US justice department on Friday issued a warrant for the seizure of the detained Iranian oil tanker, one day after a Gibraltar judge allowed the release of the detained vessel.
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 (IEEPA), and bank fraud, money laundering, and terrorism forfeiture statutes.
The United States called for the seizure of the ship, which was still anchored in the British Mediterranean territory on Friday, for “a scheme to unlawfully access the US financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization,” the Justice department said.
After a judge ordered the tanker’s release, Britain’s Chief minister Mr Picardo earlier told the vessel would be able to leave as soon as the logistics had been figured out: “Could be today, could be tomorrow.”
Neither Britain nor Gibraltar have responded to the US warrant.
The supertanker Grace 1 was seized in early July by the British overseas territory of Gibraltar in apparent retaliation for Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf.
