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Iran Tanker Sails From Gibraltar

Martin Arostegui

   GIBRALTAR - An Iranian oil tanker seized in Gibraltar for violating EU
   sanctions sailed from Gibraltar's waters Sunday after the British
   colony's Supreme Court rejected repeated U.S. requests to turn over the
   vessel suspected of intending to deliver crude to Syria.

   Marine traffic monitoring data indicated Monday the tanker-- with its
   named changed from Grace 1 to Adrian Darya 1-- was making its way to a
   port in Greece, though officials have not publicly confirmed its
   destination.

   The Gibraltar government said it had received a "supplemental request"
   from the United States as late as Saturday to stop the tanker from
   leaving Gibraltar waters, where it had been anchored for 46 days with
   2.1 million barrels of oil on board. But authorities were "unable to
   seek a Supreme Court Order to provide the restraining assistance
   requested," the statement said.

   Initial U.S. requests to hold the vessel were rejected by Gibraltar's
   high court last Thursday. The colony's chief minister Fabian Picardo
   said that Iran had given assurances that the oil would not go to Syria,
   a destination prohibited by EU sanctions against the government of
   Bashar al-Assad.

   Subsequent U.S. requests were based on offenses under the International
   Emergency Economic Powers Act linked to U.S. sanctions against Iran
   that do not apply in Gibraltar, Britain or the rest of the European
   Union, according to the Gibraltar Justice Ministry.

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