The ship Grace 1, this Iranian oil tanker boarded in early July by Gibraltar, changed position Friday, August 16, but it is still in the waters of this British territory.

Preparations are underway to allow the ship to weigh anchor, but it "is unlikely" that it can do before Sunday, said a source close to the record in the daily Gibraltar Chronicle.

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Grace 1 was suspected by the Gibraltar authorities of transporting 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil to Syria, hit by an EU embargo, which Iran has repeatedly denied.

The Gibraltar government said on Thursday that it had received Tehran's written pledge not to send the barrels to Syria, and the Supreme Court of that small British territory in the far south of Spain lifted the detention of Grace 1 .

Iran denied Friday that it had given assurances on the destination of its oil tanker boarded and released by Gibraltar, whose authorities again confirmed that it had received a written promise from Tehran that it would not go to Syria.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Friday that his country has not made such a promise. "Iran has not given any guarantee that Grace 1 will not go to Syria," he said, quoted by a state television channel, Irib. "The destination of the tanker was not Syria [...] and even if it was the case, this is nobody's business".

"Our illegally seized oil tanker has been released and this victory, achieved without concessions, is the result of a #powerful diplomacy and a strong will to fight for the rights of the nation," said the door on Twitter. - Government Speech, Ali Rabiei.

Name change

Shortly after these statements, the spokesman of the Government of Gibraltar "confirmed that the Islamic Republic of Iran pledged" not to send barrels of oil to Syria.

For his part, the Deputy Director of Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization, Jalil Eslami, announced Friday that the ship was going to the Mediterranean under Iranian flag, not Panamanian.

"In accordance with the request of its owner, the Grace 1 will leave in the Mediterranean Sea after having changed flag for that of the Islamic Republic of Iran and have been renamed Adrian Darya for the trip," said Jalil Eslami, whose remarks have were broadcast by Iranian television. "The ship was of Russian origin and [...] was carrying two million barrels of Iranian oil," he added, without specifying the ultimate destination of the tanker.

The seizure of the tanker by Gibraltar and the British navy caused a major diplomatic crisis between Tehran and London, as well as retaliatory measures by Iran, which had boarded three other tankers, including a British flag flying on 19 July.

The boarding of the ship also came amidst strong tensions between Tehran and the United States, allies of Great Britain, after sabotage and attacks of ships in the Gulf and the destruction of an American drone by Tehran.

With AFP and Reuters