US official: We will take action against anyone who helps Iranian tanker
A US official said on Thursday, August 21, that the United States will firmly enforce its sanctions to prevent private sector assistance to the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya-1.
The US State Department official told Reuters: "We are warning the shipping sector that we will firmly enforce the US sanctions."
"Adrian Darya 1", which was seized by the government of Gibraltar on July 4 under another name, "Grace-1", left the region on Sunday of this week after 45 days of detention and is now moving in the Mediterranean Sea.
While it is said that this supertanker carrying Iranian oil is heading towards Greece, the Greek Prime Minister says that the Iranian tanker "Adrian Darya 1" is not destined for the country's waters.
A US State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, warned that the United States would take action against any individual or entity that directly or indirectly assists the tanker.
The US official said: "All those involved in the shipping sector must exercise due diligence and appropriate assessments to ensure that they are not directly or indirectly trading or facilitating trade with sanctioned parties or sanctioned cargoes."
Initial reports indicated that the tanker was heading towards the Greek port of Kalamata with 2.1 million barrels of oil cargo, but Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varovitsiotis said on August 20 that the tanker had not requested to dock at Greek ports, and in any case, none of the country's ports has the capacity to dock the 330-meter-long Iranian supertanker.
The value of the ship's cargo is reported to be $130 million.
The United States says that this tanker is helping the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by transporting oil to Syria, and the United States considers the IRGC a terrorist organization.
The day before lifting the seizure of the supertanker, the US Department of Justice announced that it had asked the Gibraltar government to re-seize the Grace 1 tanker for "illegal use of the US financial system to aid and finance the Revolutionary Guard Corps to sell oil to Syria."
But the Gibraltar government rejected the request and the supertanker set sail late Sunday.
Iran says the Islamic Republic has warned the United States about the re-seizure of an Iranian tanker and warned Washington of the "bad consequences" of this action.
Source: Radio Farda
