Iran Threatens Seizure of UK Oil Tankers
Iran Threatens Seizure of UK Oil Tankers
Iran has called for the “immediate release” of its oil tanker after British Royal Marines boarded and seized it off Gibraltar a day ago after it took a long 90-day trek around the tip of Africa, presumably to evade sanctions imposing on Syria. Authorities had accused the Grace 1 supertanker of illegal smuggling as it had reportedly been transiting some 2 million barrels of Iranian oil.
Iran’s foreign ministry had immediately summoned the UK ambassador over the incident, saying the move was “unacceptable”. An official statement of protest called for “the immediate release of the oil tanker, given that it has been seized at the request of the US, based on the information currently available,” the statement added.
Iran’s position is that the EU sanctions on Syria have not been endorsed by the UN, while the US received the news as a positive development in the global crackdown on Iranian oil.
But Syria and Iran as well as some Arab commentators have shot back that the some few dozen Royal Marines seizing the tanker by fast-roping in on helicopter amounts to ”piracy”.
To be expected, Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to seize a British oil tanker in a tit-for-tat move, and even went so far as to issue a statement saying it was Tehran’s “duty” to respond in kind.
According to reports, UK authorities and Gibraltar police are interviewing the Grace-1’s 28-member crew to establish its ultimate destination and intent. Most of the crew aboard the Panamanian-flagged ship are said to be Indian, Pakistani, and Ukrainian.
European officials believe it was on its way to the Syrian port of Baniyas and its refinery. That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria.
Both the Grace 1 as well as prior tankers attempting to reach Syria’s coast are accused of ”ghosting” – which involves tankers switching off their transponders at sensitive transit points.
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