Iran calls UK seizure of tanker 'threatening': Update

Adds Gibraltar government statement on cargo in paragraph 4

Iran has described the UK's detention of a tanker carrying Iranian crude off the coast of Gibraltar last week as "threatening" and "illegal", and has once again called on UK authorities to release the vessel.

"In recent days, we have seen threatening moves from the British government off Gibraltar towards an Iranian oil tanker," Iran's defence minister Amir Sartip Hatami said today. "This is an action that contradicts all legal criteria, contradicts the level of relations between Iran and the UK, and contradicts the obligations of the European signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA]. It is an action that is wrong, which is tantamount to maritime piracy," Hatami said.

The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Grace 1, which was fully laden with Iranian crude, was seized on 4 July as it headed into the Mediterranean after apparently taking the Cape of Good Hope route around Africa.

The government of Gibraltar today said the Grace 1 "freely navigated" into British Gibraltar territorial waters and it was there that law enforcement and military forces boarded the tanker. The government today said the Grace 1 is "loaded to capacity" with crude. It reiterated that the destination was the 140,000 b/d Banias refinery in Syria, and therefore the tanker was acting in breach of EU sanctions against Syria. Gibraltar port and police agencies boarded the vessel, accompanied by a detachment of the UK's Royal Marines armed forces.

"We ask the British government to release the Iranian crude oil tanker," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said today. "We regard this seizure as piracy, and will not accept it. We have, of course, given all involved the necessary warnings."

Iran has consistently denied that the Grace 1 was headed for Syria.

Syria still receives Iranian crude — which otherwise has been removed from the Mediterranean by US sanctions against Iran — but usually on smaller Suezmax class tankers than can traverse the Suez Canal. VLCCs are unable to sail fully-laden through the canal, which is why the Grace 1 appears to have taken the long way around.

The Gibraltar government said on 5 July that it has obtained an order from Gibraltar's supreme court to detain the tanker for 14 days.