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Royal Marines storm Iranian tanker off Gibraltar
Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker off the Straits of Gibraltar yesterday after a US request to prevent the ship from travelling to Syria.
The Grace-1 super-tanker, 300,000-tonnes and more than 1,000 feet long, was boarded in the early hours of Thursday morning and believed to be heading toward Syria in defiance of EU and US sanctions.
In response, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the UK Ambassador in Tehran, Robert Macaire, to voice “its very strong objection to the illegal and unacceptable seizure” of its ship.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote on twitter that the swift action by the Royal Marines using helicopters and speedboats would deny “valuable resources to Assad’s murderous regime” in Syria.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said: “We welcome this firm action to enforce EU sanctions against the Syrian regime and commend those Gibraltarian authorities involved in successfully carrying out this morning’s operation. This sends a clear message that violation of the sanctions is unacceptable.” Europe has banned oil shipments to Syria since 2011.
The Gibraltar government said it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying crude oil to the Baniyas refinery in Syria. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said: “That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria. With my consent, our port and law enforcement agencies sought the assistance of the Royal Marines in carrying out this operation.”
The New York Times reported that: “Companies that monitor international shipping say that the vessel turned off its electronic tracking devices as it sailed into Iranian waters, then turned them on again after leaving — a tactic often used to evade the sanctions, though ships can still be followed through satellite photography”.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, and the nominee to be the next EU foreign affairs chief, said Madrid was assessing the implications of the incident because it took place in waters it considers its own.