Iran accuses Britain of doing America’s bidding, demands release oil tanker held in Gibraltar

Iran foreign ministry said the move was unacceptable during a meeting with British ambassador who was summoned to hear a formal protest after the vessel was detained

Gibraltar authorities said the tanker was carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions

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A British Royal Navy ship patrols near supertanker Grace 1 suspected of carrying crude oil to Syria. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:53pm, 5 Jul 2019Updated: 5:19pm, 5 Jul 2019

Iran demanded Friday that Britain immediately release an oil tanker it has detained in Gibraltar, accusing it of acting at the bidding of the United States.

A senior foreign ministry official “described the UK move as unacceptable” in a meeting with British ambassador Rob Macaire, who had been summoned to hear a formal protest, the ministry said in a statement.

He “called for the immediate release of the oil tanker, given that it has been seized at the request of the US, based on the information currently available”, the statement added.

Authorities in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on Spain’s southern tip at the western entrance to the Mediterranean, said they suspected the tanker was carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

The detention of the 330-metre (1,000-feet) Grace 1 vessel comes at a sensitive time in Iran-EU ties as the bloc mulls how to respond to Tehran announcing it is poised to breach the uranium enrichment limit it agreed to in a troubled 2015 nuclear deal.

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