U.S. warrant issued for seizure of Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar

 

The name of Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 is seen removed as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, southern Spain, August 16, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. court has issued a warrant for the seizure of an Iranian tanker that British Royal Marines had seized last month in Gibraltar, a court document showed on Friday.

 

The oil tanker Grace 1, the more than 2 million barrels of oil it carries and $995,000 are subject to forfeiture based on a complaint by the U.S. government, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu said in a news release.

 

The tanker was seized by British Royal Marines at the western mouth of the Mediterranean on July 4 on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran.

 

Washington had attempted to detain the Grace 1 on the grounds that it had links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it has designated a terrorist organisation.

 

"The scheme involves multiple parties affiliated with the IRGC and furthered by the deceptive voyages of the Grace 1," Liu said. "A network of front companies allegedly laundered millions of dollars in support of such shipments."

 

"A seizure warrant and a forfeiture complaint are merely allegations. The burden to prove forfeitability in a civil forfeiture proceeding is upon the government," the news release said.

 

Gibraltar lifted the tanker's detention order on Thursday but the vessel's fate was further complicated by a last-ditch U.S. legal appeal to hold it.

 

The tanker shifted its position on Friday, but its anchor was still down off Gibraltar and it was unclear if it was ready to set sail soon.

 

The warrant for the seizure of the tanker, which carries 2.1 million barrels of oil, was issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and addressed to "the United States Marshal's Service and/or any other duly authorized law enforcement officer."

 

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-17

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The american government really are a scourge on this planet....just cant leave things be.Hopefully not long until they drown in their own misery.

Not sure on the fate of the captain and first officer as they had been held on charges, have they been released also?

 

The EU issue was they had good intelligence the oil was going to Syria, Americas issue is the oil came from Iran, which is as far as I know just an American sanction and not in violation of any EU or UN rules so likely Gibraltar will not respond to the US court order. 

1 hour ago, Basil B said:

Not sure on the fate of the captain and first officer as they had been held on charges, have they been released also?

 

The EU issue was they had good intelligence the oil was going to Syria, Americas issue is the oil came from Iran, which is as far as I know just an American sanction and not in violation of any EU or UN rules so likely Gibraltar will not respond to the US court order. 

I hope so.

"... on the grounds that it had links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it has designated a terrorist organisation."

If this is the basis, Trump should be arrested as he has done deals financed by IRGC. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal

A good solution : let the oil tanker first go to Cyprus where it is easy to change the name of the vessel and change papers about the cargo / let all the money involved be handled by the Bank of Cyprus of which a Trump cabinet member is the Vice-Chairman ????

Edited August 17, 20196 yr by fvw53
typo

4 hours ago, Basil B said:

Not sure on the fate of the captain and first officer as they had been held on charges, have they been released also?

 

The EU issue was they had good intelligence the oil was going to Syria, Americas issue is the oil came from Iran, which is as far as I know just an American sanction and not in violation of any EU or UN rules so likely Gibraltar will not respond to the US court order. 

Yes the captain etc have been released without charges. The article I saw that info in, did not include details on wether they went back on board, or not, but one would assume so

 

it will be interesting to see what it does with its cargo, moving forward (assuming the trump doesn’t steal it)

 

14 minutes ago, jany123 said:

Yes the captain etc have been released without charges. The article I saw that info in, did not include details on wether they went back on board, or not, but one would assume so

 

it will be interesting to see what it does with its cargo, moving forward (assuming the trump doesn’t steal it)

 

I read the captain doesn't want to captain the boat anymore.

6 minutes ago, stevenl said:

I read the captain doesn't want to captain the boat anymore.

Ah... well that might explain why the vessel is still at anchor.... Iran said it was leaving ASAP, yet more than enough time has passed to warm up the engines and catch the tide.

 

I would assume that it would be hard to quickly replace the captain of a vessel that large.

Edited August 17, 20196 yr by jany123

3 minutes ago, Catoni said:

  Huh ? ?    They should arrest Obama and throw him into prison.  He sent the Iran mullahs $150,000,000,000.00 .    Yeah. you read that right... not millions....   BILLIONS ! ! ! 

And why did he do that......???

5 hours ago, Basil B said:

Not sure on the fate of the captain and first officer as they had been held on charges, have they been released also?

 

The EU issue was they had good intelligence the oil was going to Syria, Americas issue is the oil came from Iran, which is as far as I know just an American sanction and not in violation of any EU or UN rules so likely Gibraltar will not respond to the US court order. 

Royal Marines boarded a large Iranian tanker, the Grace 1 at Gibraltar, claiming it was transporting crude oil to be refined in President Assad’s Syria. This delivery of oil was in breach of EU sanctions. 

    But the U.S. did not mind the seizure.. and verbally supported the action of the British Royal Marines. 

 

The British were in the right to do as they did... and fully ready to release the ship if proven that the oil was NOT going to Addas's Syria. 

2 hours ago, Emdog said:

"... on the grounds that it had links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it has designated a terrorist organisation."

If this is the basis, Trump should be arrested as he has done deals financed by IRGC. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal

The New Yorker huh  ? ? ?   Do you realise how far left that socialist rag is ? ?  They probably call each other "comrade" there. 

     If anyone needs to be arrested... it's Hillary Clinton, and Obama..  and I would also say.. A.O.C. 

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia

And since when does his jurisdiction include Gibraltar and the high sea? 

 

Maybe a judge in some little town in Iran should decide that an American tanker should be seized. People would laugh about it and call it ridiculous. But when a judge in the USA does it...

Th US is easily the least oppressive and least expansionist superpower in history.

 

They get plenty wrong because acting in the best interests of their own people means they have to make tough decisions where it is inevitable other people's noses will be out of joint.  But they are a whole lot more committed to individual rights and freedoms than any of the countries with whom they butt heads.

13 minutes ago, Catoni said:

The New Yorker huh  ? ? ?   Do you realise how far left that socialist rag is ? ?

Only a right wing fanatic would use those words.

UPDATE

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/middleeast/gibraltar-grace-1-oil-tanker-gbr-intl/index.html

• 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.
• 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.
• "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.

There are several ports accessed from the Mediterranean Sea other than Syria to receive the oil.

6 hours ago, Basil B said:

Not sure on the fate of the captain and first officer as they had been held on charges, have they been released also?

Everyone now released to sail with the tanker onward into the Mediterranean Sea.

6 hours ago, Basil B said:

The EU issue was they had good intelligence the oil was going to Syria

It was intelligence coming from the Americans or perhaps more likely from the Trump administration acting independently of American intelligence agencies. It would not be polite to ignore the Americans; whether "intelligence" was good I think wasn't a consideration.

4 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Everyone now released to sail with the tanker onward into the Mediterranean Sea.

It was intelligence coming from the Americans or perhaps more likely from the Trump administration acting independently of American intelligence agencies. It would not be polite to ignore the Americans; whether "intelligence" was good I think wasn't a consideration.

 

   So you would trust the Iranian Islamic mullahs before believing the EU or Britain or Trump...  

Reported Troll comment removed.

3 minutes ago, Catoni said:

 

   So you would trust the Iranian Islamic mullahs before believing the EU or Britain or Trump...  

Before Trump, yes.

24 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

Th US is easily the least oppressive and least expansionist superpower in history.

 

They get plenty wrong because acting in the best interests of their own people means they have to make tough decisions where it is inevitable other people's noses will be out of joint.  But they are a whole lot more committed to individual rights and freedoms than any of the countries with whom they butt heads.

    You've got that right.  Nice to see someone posting here that has some intelligence.   Take care.. 

13 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

UPDATE

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/middleeast/gibraltar-grace-1-oil-tanker-gbr-intl/index.html

• 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.
• 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.
• "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.

There are several ports accessed from the Mediterranean Sea other than Syria to receive the oil.

 

"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"

 

But from the very same article:

 

Quote

On Friday, Iran disputed Gibraltar's account and insisted it had made no commitments to secure the tanker's release.

 

"Iran has made no commitment that the ship would not go to Syria because from the early hours of the tanker's detention, we announced that Syria was not its destination and we have upheld the same ... and reiterated that it was nobody's business even if it was Syria," the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said according to semi-official Tasnim news.

 

 

11 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Everyone now released to sail with the tanker onward into the Mediterranean Sea.

It was intelligence coming from the Americans or perhaps more likely from the Trump administration acting independently of American intelligence agencies. It would not be polite to ignore the Americans; whether "intelligence" was good I think wasn't a consideration.

 

"or perhaps more likely from the Trump administration acting independently of American intelligence agencies."

 

Anything to support this?

4 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Could still be drawn by intelligence services.

Ok u got me. I concede.

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

"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"

 

But from the very same article:

 

 

 

As far as I know they have not said where the tanker was going.

 

1 hour ago, Morch said:

On Friday, Iran disputed Gibraltar's account and insisted it had made no commitments to secure the tanker's release.

 

"Iran has made no commitment that the ship would not go to Syria because from the early hours of the tanker's detention, we announced that Syria was not its destination and we have upheld the same ... and reiterated that it was nobody's business even if it was Syria," the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said according to semi-official Tasnim news.

I think it is our business... the ship was sailing through Gibraltarian waters (a British overseas territory and at this time Britain is still a member of the EU) suspected to be in breach of EU sanctions on supplying oil to Siria.

2 hours ago, Catoni said:

 

   So you would trust the Iranian Islamic mullahs before believing the EU or Britain or Trump...  

Apparently you don't believe the US.

https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0144.aspx

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

4 hours ago, Mick501 said:

Th US is easily the least oppressive and least expansionist superpower in history.

 

They get plenty wrong because acting in the best interests of their own people means they have to make tough decisions where it is inevitable other people's noses will be out of joint.  But they are a whole lot more committed to individual rights and freedoms than any of the countries with whom they butt heads.

Bull<deleted>

10 hours ago, Basil B said:

Not sure on the fate of the captain and first officer as they had been held on charges, have they been released also?

 

The EU issue was they had good intelligence the oil was going to Syria, Americas issue is the oil came from Iran, which is as far as I know just an American sanction and not in violation of any EU or UN rules so likely Gibraltar will not respond to the US court order. 

I wonder how a US court can pretend to have jurisdiction there and issue court orders ???

And after they will blah blah in all media about "legality" and saying what others do is "illegal" even when it's not their jurisdiction.

13 hours ago, xylophone said:

And why did he do that......???

Because it was Iranian money that the US Government froze in US/overseas bank accounts after the Shah was deposed.  So they gave Iran back what already belonged to them based on the negotiated terms of the treaty.