MADRID -- The British overseas territory of Gibraltar released a seized Iranian supertanker Thursday over last-minute objections from the U.S., potentially easing tensions between London and Tehran, which still holds a British-flagged vessel.

The release of the Grace 1 comes amid a growing confrontation between Iran and the West after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago.


Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the U.S. could still begin a new legal procedure for seizing the Grace 1, but that provisions under the European Union's sanctions regulations were ending Thursday after the Iranian government assured him in writing that the ship will not send its 2.1 million barrels of crude to a sanctioned entity in Syria.

Reacting to the developments, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the U.S. of trying to “steal our property on the high seas.”

“Having failed to accomplish its objectives through its #EconomicTerrorism - including depriving cancer patients of medicine - the US attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas,” Zarif tweeted, calling the Trump administration's moves a “piracy attempt.”

It was not clear whether the Grace 1 would sail away immediately; nor was it known what the Trump's administration strategy was. The U.S. Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

“This is an important material change in the destination of the vessel and the beneficiary of its cargo,” Gibraltar's Picardo said in a statement, adding that the move ensured that the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad would be deprived of more than $140 million of crude oil.


As proof of those negotiations, Picardo's office released copies of communications with the Iranian Embassy in the U.K. shortly after the British overseas territory's Supreme Court decision to release the tanker.

“It's there for the whole world to see,” Picardo told The Associated Press hours after the hearing. “Once a state says something in writing on its own letterhead, one is entitled to believe that they will comply with those obligations.”


Gibraltar will “respectfully” deal with any application coming from the U.S. to open a separate proceeding to seize the tanker, Picardo told AP, adding that the government was not aware of the next logistical steps of the Grace 1.

He also rejected that Thursday's decision represented a “swap of tankers.”


The EU has endorsed U.N. sanctions against Syria and has imposed a broad range of its own restrictions against Assad's government and its supporters. The restrictions include an oil embargo, limits on certain type of investments and a freeze of Syria's central bank's assets in the EU, among others.

In May, it extended until mid-2020 travel bans and the freezing of assets of 269 individuals and 69 entities. Among them is listed the Banyas refinery where the Grace 1's cargo was allegedly headed on July 4 when it was seized in a British Royal Navy operation in the Strait of Gibraltar.


In a statement following the Gibraltar decision on the Grace 1, Britain's Foreign Office warned Iran to abide by the assurances that led to the release. The U.K. also insisted that there should be “no comparison or linkage” between enforcement of sanctions and “Iran's unacceptable and illegal seizure of, and attacks on, commercial shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street office said Iran was discussed during his meeting with Trump's national security adviser John Bolton earlier in the week, though no details were released.





Tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf region since Trump unilaterally withdrew the 2015 nuclear deal signed by Iran, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The decision stopped billions of dollars in business deals, largely halted the sale of Iran's crude oil internationally and sharply depreciated Iran's currency, the rial.




Resolving the tanker dispute would help Britain's Johnson focus on domestic issues as he works to complete Britain's exit from the EU and prepare for anticipated national elections in the next few months.


