Epoch Times: MADRID—Authorities in Gibraltar said they intercepted an Iranian supertanker on Thursday, July 4, that was believed to be breaching European Union sanctions by carrying a shipment of Tehran’s crude oil to war-ravaged Syria.
A senior Spanish official said the operation was requested by the United States. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency called the incident “an illegal seizure of an Iranian oil tanker.”
Gibraltar port and law enforcement agencies, assisted by Britain’s Royal Marines, boarded the Grace 1 early Thursday, authorities on the British overseas territory at the tip of Spain said in a statement.
It added that the vessel was believed to be headed to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria, a government-owned facility under the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad and subject to the EU’s Syrian Sanctions Regime.
The EU and others have imposed sanctions on Assad’s government over its continued crackdown against civilians. They currently target 270 people and 70 entities.
Spain’s caretaker foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said the tanker was stopped by British authorities after a request from the United States. more here
Isn’t via Gibraltar a roundabout way of getting from Iran to Syria?
Sell the thing to pay for our drone.
Iranian tanker named Grace 1?
The gander nodded his head.