Saturday, August 17, 2019

Gibraltar Saves the Oil and the Wine (Revelation 6:6)


CreditCreditJon Nazca/Reuters
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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