US blacklists Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya in Mediterranean
- The US Department of Treasury on Friday said that the vessel is ‘blocked property’ under an anti-terrorist order
- The ship has been bouncing around the Mediterranean after being held for six weeks by Gibraltar on suspicion its cargo was bound for Syria
The US Department of Treasury on Friday said that the vessel is “blocked property” under an anti-terrorist order, and “anyone providing support to the Adrian Darya 1 risks being sanctioned”.
The ship’s captain, Akhilesh Kumar, was also blacklisted under the order, which generally prohibits dealings with blocked property by Americans.
Lebanon had earlier dismissed Turkish claims that it would receive the ship, which has a cargo of 2.1 million barrels worth around US$140 million.
After tracking sites showed Mersin as its destination, it then switched to Iskenderun, prompting a reaction from Turkey’s foreign minister on Friday.
“This tanker is not heading actually to Iskenderun [in Turkey], this tanker is heading to Lebanon,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a visit to Oslo.
Lebanon swiftly dismissed the scenario, stressing that it never buys crude oil because it simply does not have refineries.
“The energy ministry does not buy crude oil from any country and Lebanon does not own a crude oil refinery,” Energy Minister Nada Boustani Khoury said in a statement.
She added that Lebanon had not received any docking request from the tanker.
“There is also no request for the Adrian Darya 1 oil tanker to enter Lebanon,” Boustani said.
Iran said on Monday it had “sold the oil” aboard the tanker and that the owner will decide the destination.
But Iran denied the charge and said it could not name the actual destination due to US “economic terrorism” and its sanctions on Iran’s oil sales.
The Adrian Darya 1 set sail for the eastern Mediterranean three days after it was released.
According to maritime traffic monitoring websites, the huge tanker has changed direction multiple times, following no apparent logic.
The specialised TankerTrackers social media account noted on Friday after the vessel listed Iskenderun as its destination that little could be read into it.
“Consider this just a record update rather than anything substantial. We believe a transfer is still a few days away. Turkey will not import this oil,” it said.
It earlier described it as “aimlessly moseying around the Med”.
Syria, which has ports on the Mediterranean, is also under a raft of US and European sanctions over its eight-year-old conflict.