TEHRAN, Aug 19 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian ambassador to Britain Hamid Baeidijnejad said on Sunday that with the arrival of a specialist engineering team to Gibraltar, Adrian Daria (formerly Grace 1) ship was expected to leave the area on Sunday night.
On his tweeter massage, Iran’s high-ranking official noted that a 24-hour effort has been underway for port procedures and the deployment of a full crew of the ship since Thursday when the decree of lifting the seizure of the tanker was issued. Instant contacts are underway with the coordinator company. The ship is expected to depart tonight as the specialized engineering team enters Gibraltar from different routes.
According to an Iranian ambassador to London, the Gibraltar court has formally rejected a US request to seize or impose restrictive measures against an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil.
The court ruled that the US request was made in accordance with the US unilateral sanctions regulations and was not enforceable in the EU.
On renaming the oil tanker stopped in Gibraltar, the official noted that according to the new oil tanker registration certificate carrying Iranian oil available to us, the date of registration of this oil tanker under his new name, Adrian Daria, is July 15, over a month ago.
With the decision to place the tanker under the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it was also necessary to register the tanker in Iran, said Baeedijnejad. Naturally, with the registration of the ship in Iran, a new Iranian name was chosen. It is stressed that the ship is not subject to any sanctions and its oil is owned by the National Iranian Oil Company, according to an official loading document.
Oil tanker Grace 1 was renamed Adrian Daria and is now sailing towards Mediterranean Sea, said deputy head of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran on Friday.
Jalil Eslami added that when the oil tanker was in detention in Gibraltar, Panama ended use of the country’s flag for it, as the owner of the vessel requested for the oil tanker to carry Iranian flag.
“Grace 1 was renamed Adrian Daria whose next destination after detention is Mediterranean Sea,” he said, noting that it seems it will face no specific problem en route for the sea and next destination.
The official hoped the incident will never occur for the Iranian vessels as well as those carrying Iranian goods.
Grace 1, a supertanker carrying Iranian oil, was seized earlier this month by British Royal Marines off the coast of the British Mediterranean territory of Gibraltar on suspicion of violating sanctions against Syria.
The Gibraltar court decided to release the crew of the ship, but the US was trying to block the release of Grace 1.
The US was struggling to block the release of the tanker, but in defiance of its attempts, Gibraltar court issued a ruling to release the ship.
