New rebound for the ship Grace 1. The Supreme Court of Gibraltar authorized Thursday, August 15, the Iranian tanker boarded early July to leave the British territory. Iran has guaranteed in writing that the cargo of Grace 1 was not destined for Syria, hit by an EU embargo, and Gibraltar therefore asked the Court to lift the detention.

The President of the Court, Judge Anthony Dudley, however, stated that he had not been seized in writing of a US request to extend the detention of the tanker, announced in the morning by the public prosecutor of Gibraltar.

Indeed, earlier in the day, when an agreement between London and Tehran seemed close at hand, Washington had filed a mutual legal assistance request for the vessel to be seized.

"The US Department of Justice has requested the seizure of the Grace 1 by lightening a number of reasons that are being examined," said a spokesman for the Government of Gibraltar, adding that the hearing was postponed to 16h (14h GMT).

Tehran accuses UK of "piracy"

The Grace 1, loaded with 2.1 million barrels of oil, was boarded on July 4 by the Gibraltar police and the British special forces, causing a diplomatic crisis between Tehran and London.

Tehran assures the tanker was sailing in international waters and accuses the United Kingdom of "piracy", claiming from the start that the British let him leave.

On 19 July Iran blocked a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Ormuz on suspicion of "non-compliance with the international maritime code".

"If the Grace 1 is released, and it would probably be the case if Iran engaged behind the scenes not to export this oil to Syria, then it is likely that the Stena Impero will also be released," he said. AFP Sanam Vakil, researcher at the Chatham House Institute in London before Thursday's hearing.

According to the analyst, Tehran suspects the British of having boarded the Grace 1 at the request of the United States, which they consider as the instigator of an "economic war against Iran in the long term to prevent the Iran to regain its market share in the oil sector, so Iran is also trying to defend its share. "

The standstill of the oil tanker and the renewed diplomatic tensions that have resulted have blurred the efforts of European states trying to save the nuclear deal with Iran, whose withdrawal the United States in 2018, imposing heavy sanctions to the Islamic Republic.

With AFP