Iran gave no immediate signal on whether
it would soon release a British tanker that it had seized in
retaliation, but Iranian officials have previously hinted at the
possibility of such a trade. An oil trader in Iran who had been briefed
on the dispute said that the British ship would be released once the
Iranian tanker had reached Greece.
The moves were the latest sign that
officials in Gibraltar, a semiautonomous British territory, Tehran and
London, in negotiations over the past few weeks, were trying to step
back from an escalating confrontation between Iran and the West,
particularly the United States.
The Gibraltar government revealed on
Thursday morning that the United States had applied to seize the Iranian
vessel, Grace 1. The American action was the latest in a series of
back-and-forth jabs that the United States and Iran have traded
recently, raising fears of escalation into an all-out conflict in the
Persian Gulf.
The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian
Picardo, said in a statement on Thursday that he had “received written
assurance” from Iran the previous day that “if released, the destination
of Grace 1 would not be an entity that is subject to European Union
sanctions.”
“In light of the assurances we have
received,” he added, “there are no longer any reasonable grounds for the
continued legal detention of the Grace 1.”
When asked later in a CNN interview where
the ship was headed, Mr. Picardo said, “That is not an issue for the
authorities in Gibraltar.”
The oil trader in Iran said the tanker
would sail to Greece and then to Italy, though it remained unclear who
would buy Iranian oil in defiance of American sanctions. Iranian
officials have insisted that the oil was always bound for Europe, not
Syria.
The Iranian government said earlier this week that a deal for the release of the ship was near,
which officials in Gibraltar and London would neither confirm nor deny
at the time. British officials insisted that it was a matter for the
Gibraltar authorities.
A court in Gibraltar ruled last month
that the Iranian vessel could be held for an additional 30 days, a
period that would have expired on Sunday. A follow-up hearing was set
for Thursday morning, in which the territory’s government was not
expected to ask the court to extend the detention.
But when the court met, Gibraltar
officials revealed the United States’ request, and the hearing was
adjourned until later in the day.
“The U.S. Department of Justice has
applied to seize the Grace 1 on a number of allegations which are now
being considered,” the Gibraltar government said in a brief statement.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Mr. Picardo said at the time that the
Gibraltar authorities would “make an objective, legal determination of
that request,” though the point would appear to be moot once the ship
sets sail. It was not clear when that would be.
The legal basis for the American request
was not immediately clear, but the United States has recently imposed
sanctions designed to cut off Iran’s ability to sell oil. Other
countries have not signed on to those sanctions, but could face serious
economic penalties for defying them.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is himself subject to new American sanctions, described the United States’ request as a “piracy attempt,” writing on Twitter that “the U.S. attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas.”
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Iranian officials have insisted that
Britain and Gibraltar’s seizure of Grace 1 was illegal and was carried
out at the behest of the United States.
About 20 percent of the world’s oil supply is carried by tankers through the Strait of Hormuz to destinations around the world.
The area has become a site of contention
as tensions have risen between the United States and Iran since
President Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and imposed
sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy.
American officials have blamed Iran for attacks in May and June that damaged several tankers in the region. In addition to the Stena Impero, Iran also seized a tanker registered in Panama last month — a vessel chartered by a company in the United Arab Emirates — and later said it had apprehended an Iraqi tanker.
Britain said this month that it would join an American-led mission to protect ships moving through the strait.
On Tuesday, the government of Gibraltar
said it was seeking to “de-escalate issues arising since the lawful
detention of Grace 1” but provided no details about what, if any, steps
had been taken.
While Iran had hinted at an exchange,
Dominic Raab, Britain’s new foreign secretary, recently ruled out that
possibility, saying that a swap would legitimize the Iranian seizure.
“We are not going to barter a ship that was detained legally with a ship that was detained illegally,” Mr. Raab told Sky News during a summit meeting in Thailand. “That’s not the way that Iran will come in from the cold.”
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