Tehran (AFP)

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

Arguably on 4 July, Grace 1 was suspected by the Gibraltar authorities of transporting 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil to Syria --under an EU embargo - which Iran has denied several times.

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 .

But the spokesman of the Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Mousavi, said Friday that his country had 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-run television station, 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.

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 Eslami, whose remarks 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 final destination of the tanker.

- Tensions -

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 took place against the background of strong tensions between Tehran and the United States - allies of Britain - after sabotage and attacks of ships in the Gulf and the destruction of an American drone by Tehran .

Shortly before the announcement of the release of Grace 1, the United States asked to prolong the immobilization of the tanker. But the President of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, Anthony Dudley, said he did not receive this request in writing.

US demand was a dramatic move as an agreement between London and Tehran seemed close at hand after weeks of diplomatic dealings.

The US "piracy attempt" has failed, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

However, nothing prevents the United States from reformulating its request to block the ship before it leaves the territorial waters of Gibraltar.

And if the captain and the three officers of Grace 1 were released, they may now be banned from visa in the United States, threatened the State Department in a statement.

© 2019 AFP