Tehran has vowed to protect its tanker .. Gibraltar rejects US request to detain Grace 1

British authorities in Gibraltar on Sunday rejected a US request to seize the Iranian tanker Grace 1, which is preparing to leave its territorial waters, saying US sanctions are not viable in the European Union.

"Under European law, Gibraltar cannot provide the assistance requested by the United States," the Gibraltar authorities said in a statement. Washington wants to seize the tanker based on US sanctions on Iran.

Gibraltar's European Union sanctions regime against Iran is much narrower than that imposed by the United States.

For his part, a commander in the Iranian navy said on Sunday that his country is ready to send its navy fleet to accompany the tanker "Adrian Daria 1" (Grace 1), which is still in Gibraltar.

"If the high authorities ask the navy, we are ready to accompany the tanker Adrian," Admiral Hossein Khanzadi was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying.

Illegal trade
The US court issued a court order to detain the tanker on the complaint of the US government, while the Iranian parliament speaker said that Britain knows very well that Tehran will not be subject to what he described as conspiracies and language of force.

The US Justice Department confirmed in a statement on Friday that the oil tanker is used in "illegal" trade towards Syria, organized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which Washington listed on its list of "foreign terrorist organizations."

The US attorney general accused the tanker of involvement in a scheme to "illegally access the US financial system with the aim of supporting illegal shipments from Iran to Syria sent by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards."

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Friday that his country has not given the authorities of Gibraltar "any guarantee that the tanker Grace 1 will not go to Syria."

"Our tanker, which was illegally detained, has been released. This victory without compromise is the result of strong diplomacy and a strong will to fight for the rights of the nation," government spokesman Ali Rubaie wrote in a tweet.

Shortly after the comments, a Gibraltar government spokesman confirmed that the "Islamic Republic of Iran has pledged" not to send oil to Syria.

Jalil Islami, deputy director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, said on Friday the tanker would leave the Mediterranean with the Iranian flag, not the Panama flag.

"At the request of the owner, Grace 1 will sail in the Mediterranean after flying the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will be named Adrian Daraya during the trip," Eslami was quoted as saying by state television.