Good News From Gibraltar

Today, on a dark and warm Spanish night, the giant Iranian supertanker, loaded with 300 thousand tons of oil, slowly sailed from its joke in the Gibralthar port and sailed east. So ended the six-week saga with the detention of the ship.

On what basis was he detained? On a linden base. Like, the European Union forbids to carry oil to Syria. A country that does not obey the good moderate al-Qaeda terrorists *, let it freeze in winter and fry in summer. And the Iranian tanker seemed to go to Syria.

The Iranians were indignant: Europeans themselves can forbid everything they want and, in particular, trade with Syria. But how can they ban Iran, which is not a member of the European Union, and Syria is not in the European Union? In addition, the tanker did not go to Syria and could not enter the corresponding Syrian port in terms of size. Further more. Iranian tanker did not call at European ports. Even if you think that Europeans have the right to detain the ship in the port, Grace 1 did not call at the port, but walked peacefully and calmly along the channel of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The British responded to this: the tanker crossed the territorial waters of Gibraltar. Gibraltar, a territory and a military base guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, became British around the time Estonia and Latvia became Russians, that is, at the beginning of the 18th century, the British just did not want to leave and stayed. The colony became an overseas territory, but still completely belongs to Great Britain, to the great displeasure of Spain, from which this strategic piece was torn away. Like England and Spain, Gibraltar is a member of the European Union. So, having passed the Strait of Gibraltar, the tanker ended up in the waters of the European Union. Bingo!

For a long time, the Iranians would have to argue with the British. Moreover, the decision to detain the tanker was made by a great lover of wars - Trump's national security adviser John Bolton. It's generally useless to argue with him. But here several factors worked. The Iranians arrested a British tanker and dragged it to their port for violating shipping rules and threatening fishing boats. Following this, the Iranians finally took up other oil loading vessels in the Persian Gulf and began to arrest the smugglers' tankers. The situation has become inconvenient for Europe. Europeans began to push England to end the tanker war.

At the same time, the government of Theresa May fell, and BoJo, as the British call red-haired Boris Johnson, became prime minister. But BoJo, despite his personal friendship with Trump, was not going to comply with American decrees, as May did. He preferred to find a common language with the European Union, all the more so since he was going to withdraw England from this organization, and for this he really needed a good attitude from its leaders. And by BoJo’s will, Gibraltar allowed the Iranian tanker to leave.

But here, before sailing, another little drama happened. At the last moment, the United States demanded the arrest of the Grace 1 tanker on a very unusual basis.

Courts in the United States are unlimited. They can do anything. That is, they can make any decision. For example, oblige the Russian Federation to pay $ 1 trillion to Ukraine in compensation for the Crimea. (This has not happened yet.) Or order the Palestinian Authority to pay millions to American citizens living in Israel if they have suffered in a terrorist attack. They do not know any restrictions.

Of course, they can force their administration to do what they think is right, ”Donald Trump faced with this when regional courts began to repeal his decrees.

So it is now. The American court decided to detain the Iranian tanker, because the Corps of Guards of the Islamic Revolution - selected parts of the Iranian army, was connected with its departure, and Trump declared them terrorists. And since the tanker's crew paid in dollars, it means that it used the American banking system and was subject to arrest, and the ship - forfeiture.

Europeans usually comply with the decisions of American courts, because it is unprofitable to contact them. For example, the Americans promised to bring to trial the judges of the International Court of Justice if they would consider war crimes committed by the US military in Afghanistan or the Israeli military in Palestine, and the International Court of Justice squeezed, cringed into a ball and refused to consider cases. The Americans sued the Swiss banks - and they immediately opened their safes. So there was reason to count on such a result now.

But alas, everything passes! And even the unlimited power of American ships.

And Gibraltar answered the Americans: sorry, we are not subject to your ships. We will not detain the Iranian ship. Gibraltar, read, England (or maybe: read, Europe, and read, BoJo), refused to obey.

And the tanker sailed away.

Well, that was how it ended. Now thesis about the interests of Russia.

Russia was rather worried - not only by the interception of oil in Syria, but also by the very act of delaying a foreign ship in the Strait of Gibraltar. Today, the Iranians, and tomorrow, you see, the Russian fleet will lose the right of free passage through the Strait of Gibraltar.

They will say: they say, your battleships and destroyers violate the environmental standards of the European Union, please come to the penalty parking. And then - to fight with them?

And the war of tankers in the Persian Gulf did not please Russia at all. It would seem that the worse the better; the worse things are in the Gulf, the more expensive Russian oil is sold. But no - Russia historically wants stability and relative conflict-freeness.

Russia wants Iran to be able to sell its oil and, accordingly, fulfill its important role in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan; conduct joint naval maneuvers with Russia and hold onto its pole of a multipolar world.

Russia is pleased that the frantic Bolton received a turn from the gates, that the unbridled claims of the United States for total dominance in the world stumbled on Brussels' rebuff.

It’s good that Europeans are getting tired of excessive American arrogance. Trump went too far - as if the Germans had not caught his word and demanded the complete evacuation of the occupying forces.

It is good that these problems were resolved without the intervention of Moscow and did not cost Russia either financial, diplomatic or military capital. The deeds of the righteous are done by the hands of others, as the Talmud says.

* “Al-Qaeda” - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.