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Sunday 18 August 2019 - 12:45
Gibraltar rejects new US demand to seize Iranian tanker
Story Code : 811252
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.
“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.
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