Iranian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura said:

Jul 22, 2019and

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Gibraltar Supreme Court says Iranian tanker is free to sail
Ruling to release vessel that was commandeered by UK came despite last-minute US attempt to detain it.

an hour ago

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The U.S. Justice Department unveiled a warrant Friday for the seizure of the Iranian oil supertanker Grace 1, one day after a Gibraltar judge allowed the release of the detained vessel.

The United States called for the seizure of the ship, which was still anchored in the British Mediterranean territory on Friday, for "a scheme to unlawfully access the U.S. financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization," the Justice department said.

The warrant says the vessel, all the oil aboard and 995,000 U.S. dollars are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and bank fraud, money laundering, and terrorism forfeiture statutes.

Earlier Friday Iranian officials said the tanker was preparing to set sail after a Gibraltar judge ordered its release, six weeks after it was detained in apparent retaliation for Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf.

The Grace 1 was to be renamed and switch to the Iranian flag for its onward journey, the deputy head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, Jalil Eslami, told Iranian state television Friday. The ship was awaiting the arrival of a new crew before it would leave Gibraltar.

Iran tanker shifts position

The Iranian tanker caught in the standoff between Tehran and the West shifted position on Friday, but its anchor was still down off Gibraltar and it was unclear if it was ready to set sail soon.

The Grace 1 was seized by British Royal Marines at the western mouth of the Mediterranean on July 4 on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions by taking oil to Syria.

Gibraltar lifted the detention order on Thursday but the vessel's fate was further complicated by the United States, which made a last-ditch legal appeal to hold it.

The vessel had appeared to be moving and more smoke could be seen coming from the funnel than in recent days. However, it was not clear that the ship was actually leaving, and it still appeared to be at anchor.

Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, said earlier that the tanker was free to leave as soon as it had organized its logistics.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the warrant to seize the tanker may be enforced. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Asked earlier about Washington's position, Picardo said that would be subject to the jurisdiction of Gibraltar's Supreme Court. "It could go back to the court absolutely."

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Jura said:

Thursday at 8:42 PM

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manqiangrexue said:

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"The authorities of Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory) twice announced that they could no longer hold up the ship at the US request due to differences of sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union and the US."

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manqiangrexue said:

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"The authorities of Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory) twice announced that they could no longer hold up the ship at the US request due to differences of sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union and the US."

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antiterror13 said:

A paper tiger BIG talk but carry no stick

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manqiangrexue said:

That it is not. It is a desperate old tiger whose jealousy is fueling it to become increasingly wicked as it looks on fearfully at a young tiger come of age, but this old feline still has a nasty bite and razor sharp claws that one would underestimate at one's own peril.

On a lighter note, we are basically watching Mufasa turn into Scar because in this story, Simba is not his son but a rising lion from another clan LOL

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plawolf said:

As I have said form the start, this seizer of the Iranian tanker stank to high heaven in terms of timing and far reaching consequences.

This happened right before Boris became PM, and threatened to define his Iran policy before he even had a chance to get into No10.

I mean, when was the last time the British military got involved in police action based on a lowly provincial court order? A civilian court had no power to order military personnel and assets to operate on domestic territory. They can place a warrant, but such warrants would be executed by civilian law enforcement agencies like the police or coast guard.

Normally such important military decisions with far reaching foreign policy implications are done only after a COBRA emergency meeting involving the MP and top officials and ministers; but no such meeting took place, and absolutely smacked of a rouge operation.

This backtracking seems to be Boris working to make his way out of this bind created on him; I would not be surprised if some senior military and intelligence officials announced their early retirement in the coming weeks or months. However it takes for the link to fade and got personal reasons of course!

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