Gibraltar allows Iranian tanker to leave despite US detention request

MADRID: Gibraltar’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favour of releasing an Iranian supertanker seized last month on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions, despite a US request to detain the vessel.

Chief Justice Anthony Dudley said that since Iran had guaranteed in writing that the destination of the Grace 1 would not be a country “subject to European Union sanctions... there are no longer reasonable grounds to suspect that the detention of the Vessel is required.”

He added that the court had not received a written detention request from the United States.

Iran’s top diplomat said a US attempt at “piracy” had failed after a Gibraltar court on Thursday ordered the release of a tanker carrying Iranian oil despite a US detention request.

A supreme court judge in Gibraltar ruled in favour of releasing the Grace 1 supertanker which had been seized in waters off the British territory on July 4 on suspicion of breaching EU sanctions on Syria.

“Having failed to accomplish its objectives through its #EconomicTerrorism — including depriving cancer patients of medicine — the US attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

“This piracy attempt is indicative of Trump admin’s contempt for the law.”

Iran’s ambassador to London called the verdict a “humiliating defeat” for the United States, his country’s arch-enemy.

“Minutes ago... the tanker carrying Iranian oil was freed from illegal detention,” Hamid Baeidinejad wrote on his Twitter account.

“The US with its last minute cowardly attempts sought to stop the tanker leaving detention which faced a humiliating defeat,” he added.

Earlier, The United States applied on Thursday for Gibraltar to keep in detention an Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a stand-off between Tehran and London, the public prosecutor said.

The announcement by attorney Joseph Triay delayed a court decision on whether to extend the detention of Grace 1, which is suspected of smuggling oil to Syria and has been held since July 4.

Triay did not detail in court the basis for the US request other than as “mutual legal assistance”.

Chief Justice Anthony Dudley made clear that were it not for the US move, “the ship would have sailed” from the overseas British territory.

The Gibraltar Supreme Court decision on the fate of the ship has been adjourned until after four pm (14:00 GMT).

The captain and three officers from Grace 1, had their bail lifted and were formally released, a Gibraltar government spokesman said.

The supertanker, carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil, was seized by Gibraltar police and British special forces, provoking a diplomatic crisis. It was suspected of carrying oil to war-torn Syria in violation of EU sanctions.