USA orders seizure of Iranian tanker | …

US justice has ordered the capture and seizure of Iranian tanker Grace 1 for violating sanctions against Tehran. The ship was held for more than a month in Gibraltar and last Thursday the justice of that country, the British overseas territory, authorized her release. The diplomatic crisis between Tehran, Washington and London is revived.

In a statement, the US Department of Justice claims that the tanker is serving an "illegal" traffic to Syria, orchestrated by Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian army, to which Washington has added its blacklist "d & # 39; 39, foreign terrorist organizations ". In addition to the cargo seizure, the US federal court that issued the measure also ordered the confiscation of cargo oil (about 2.1 million barrels) and $ 995,000. This is due to violations of the International Law on Economic Emergency Authorities (IEEPA) and laws on banking fraud, money laundering and the confiscation of terrorism.

The US court statement reports Grace 1's misleading travels "involving several parties affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, a network of ghost companies allegedly washing millions of dollars in support of these shipments."

At the same time, Iran began changing the flag and the name of the tanker and sent a new crew to allow it to sail. Grace 1 will be renamed Adrian Darya and badume the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran , leaving behind Panamanian, said Friday Jalil Eslami, deputy director of the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization.

The culprit was intercepted and approached near the coast of Gibraltar on July 4 for suspicion of transporting crude oil to a refinery in Syria, a country subject to European Union (EU) sanctions. The Iranian authorities repeatedly denied having gone to the Arab country.