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Gibraltar defies US and releases seized Iranian tanker Grace 1
By Sara Mazloumsaki and Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Vasco Cotovio, CNN
Updated 12:47 PM ET, Thu August 15, 2019
Iranian oil tanker bound for Syria seized by Britain
(CNN)A seized oil tanker at the center of a standoff between the UK and Iran is free to set sail, despite eleventh-hour efforts by the United States to halt the move to release it.
The Supreme Court in the British territory of Gibraltar approved the release of the Grace 1, which was seized off the country's coast by authorities last month, after officials said they no longer wished to detain it.
Gibraltar said it had received assurances from Iran and the owners of the oil that, were the tanker to be released, its cargo would not be taken to Syria, which would be in breach of European Union sanctions.
The ship was seized six weeks ago as it passed through Gibraltar's territorial waters. Two weeks later, Iran seized a British ship in the Gulf, in what was widely regarded as a tit-for-tat operation.
As tensions increased, the two sides conducted delicate negotiations in London. "Gibraltar has taken a very careful approach to the detention of Grace 1," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told CNN "We only acted in July when we had evidence that the cargo aboard the vessel was going to Syria."
"What we found aboard the vessel has confirmed the view that we took was the correct view. We have only released the vessel... when we have been convinced that the vessel is not now going to Syria," he added.
A last-minute intervention by the US threatened to scupper the deal to release the Grace 1. In a court hearing Thursday morning, instead of announcing the release of the tanker, Gibraltar attorney general Joseph Triay said the US Department of Justice had applied to extend its seizure. The basis of Washington's legal efforts was unclear Thursday. The State Department referred CNN to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.
The court adjourned until later Thursday afternoon, when the release of the Grace 1 was confirmed.
Picardo told CNN that Gibraltar was still looking at the request from the US and "making an independent assessment" of it. That review had not been completed ahead of Thursday's court hearings "but could of course come at any time before the vessel sails." Picardo declined to elaborate on the basis of the US request to extend the seizure of the vessel.
http://www.cnn.com/2019/08/15/middleeast/gibraltar-grace-1-oil-tanker-gbr-intl/index.html
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