Iranian oil tanker to be freed on Thursday

According to The Sun newspaper, authority of Gibraltar, a British territory in Mediterranean, will free the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 which was captured by British Royal Marines in Strait of Gibraltar in July because of suspecting it carried oil to Syria that violated the EU sanctions to Syria. Iran, then responded by seizing the British oil tanker Stena Impero.

August 15, 2019 | 10:30

Iran’s Grace 1 oil tanker will be released on Thursday after a month being held by the UK for an accusation of breaching EU sanctions.

Iranian oil tanker to be freed on Thursday

Photo: Yahoo news

As The Sun cited, Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said on Wednesday “There is no reason to keep Grace 1 in Gibraltar a moment longer if we no longer believe it is in breach of sanctions against the Syrian regime. That is now the case, so you can expect to see her on her way tomorrow.”

The Gibraltar authority’s statement was given after Iran had demanded the release of its oil tanker on Tuesday and Iran’s Far News agency even announced that Grace 1 would be freed on Tuesday evening though Gibraltar authority said “seek to de – escalate issues arising since the lawful detention of Grace 1”.

The deputy head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization Jalil Eslami also considered the keeping the Grace 1 tanker as “false allegations” and expressed that “We hope the release will take place soon”.

If the Grace 1 oil tanker is set free as Picardo’s words, the tension between the UK and Iran could ease as the release of the Stena Impero tanker could be expected.

However, Iran did not mention about the Britain’s Stena Impero oil tanker, seized on July 21 in Strait of Hormuz due to “maritime violations” which the UK called a “hostile act”. Iran still held the Stena Impero oil tanker for an investigation.

The Sun, Reuters ( Van Nguyen )