Anxiety as Gibraltar seizes Iranian oil tanker bound for Syria

A view of the Grace 1 super tanker i near a Royal Marine patrol vessel in the British territory of Gibraltar, Thursday, July 4, 2019. Spain’s acting foreign minister says a tanker stopped off Gibraltar and suspected of taking oil to Syria was intercepted by British authorities after a request from the United States. (AP Photo/Marcos Moreno)

British marines in Gibraltar stormed an Iranian ship believed to have been carrying oil to Syria on Thursday, in what authorities said was a violation of European Union sanctions on Syria.

Gibraltar port and law enforcement agencies, aided by the British marines, detained the Grace 1 super tanker early Thursday morning, the territory’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement.

Spain’s acting foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said the United States had asked the UK to intercept the ship.

“We have reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria,” Picardo said. “That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria.”

The EU imposed a number of financial, trade and transport sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2011 in response to “the continuing brutal campaign” against its own people.

A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Abbas Mousavi, tweeted that the British ambassador to Tehran had been summoned over the “illegal” seizure of the oil tanker.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US and Iran. Earlier this week, Iran announced it would stop complying with several parts of the 2015 nuclear deal which the Trump administration withdrew from last year.

The Syrian government has not yet responded to the incident.

Grace 1 is currently anchored off the coast of Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on the edge of southern Spain. CNN