US - Iran Flare Up

BMD said:
Germany mulls joining European Persian Gulf naval mission | DW | 28.07.2019

Germany mulls joining European Persian Gulf naval mission
Pressure is growing on the German government to lend its military weight to a potential European naval mission in the Persian Gulf. The UK government floated the idea of a joint European operation last Monday.





Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to the US and now head of the Munich Security Conference, on Sunday added his voice to calls for more German military engagement in the Persian Gulf.

There is an ongoing standoff over shipping rights between Iran and the UK, with both countries seizing oil tankers. Last Monday, London suggested setting up a European naval mission to defend the ships in the region.

Speaking to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, the veteran diplomat insisted that Germany had a moral duty to play its part. "Hardly any other country is as dependent on the freedom of international shipping as export champion Germany," Ischinger said.

For that reason, he added, Germany should not just "watch from the sidelines" when a defensive mission in the Gulf was being discussed.

Read more: Iran-UK tanker standoff: What is the next step for Britain?

Not ruling anything out

For its part, the German government has not yet ruled out taking part. On Thursday, new Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer suggested that Germany might take part in a European naval mission off the Iranian coast, though Foreign Minister Heiko Maas emphasized that the planning was still in its infancy.

"Whether Germany takes part can only be decided when we have clarity over the form of such a mission," he told the Funke Media Group on Friday.

He said that Germany would need to know whether such a mission would be under the auspices of the EU, or the United Nations, or some other international organization, and whether or not the ships would have to be prepared for combat.

Watch video07:55

UK-Iran tensions over tanker seizure
Maas confirmed that he had discussed the issue with the incoming British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, whose predecessor Jeremy Hunt floated the idea of a European naval mission on Monday. Maas said he was keen for the UK, France and Germany to present a united front separate from the path being pursued by the US.

"We will not take part in the American strategy of 'maximum pressure,'" Maas said. US President Donald Trump has employed increasingly belligerent rhetoric against Iran for the past year, in the hope of forcing a new Iran nuclear deal by threatening new sanctions.

The issue could cause a fresh rift inside the German coalition government, with members of the conservative half, Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), favoring military engagement, while the center-left junior partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), takes a more skeptical line.

On Sunday, Die Welt newspaper quoted the SPD's interim co-leader Rolf Mützenich questioning whether it was wise to "leave a military footprint in a region where there is a threat of new wars."

Military situation

Last week, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the UK-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, claiming that it turned off its transponder and failed to respond to distress calls after hitting an Iranian fishing boat. The ship and its crew of 18 Indians, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino are in the port of Bandar Abbas.

Britain said that there was no evidence the Swedish-owned tanker hit a fishing boat and that it was outside Iranian waters. The seizure has prompted criticism of the government in London about why it had not taken more proactive measures to protect its ships.

The seizure of the Stena Impero came two weeks after British Royal Marines impounded the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar because of allegations it was taking oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

Iran has referred to the British seizure of the Grace 1 as "piracy" and demanded the ship be freed.

Unlike Germany, France and Britain both have military bases in the region: France in the United Arab Emirates, the UK in Bahrain.
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What's the size of the German Navy, Paddy? How many err destroyers or frigates will they be deploying in the Persian Gulf? Btw - why hasn't Britain requested it's time & tested ally France now that Trump has officially told you guys to go fly a kite?
 
_Anonymous_ said:
What's the size of the German Navy, Paddy? How many err destroyers or frigates will they be deploying in the Persian Gulf? Btw - why hasn't Britain requested it's time & tested ally France now that Trump has officially told you guys to go fly a kite?
Click to expand...
In case they commit suicide or run as soon as the enemy appears.
 
BMD said:
In case they commit suicide or run as soon as the enemy appears.
Click to expand...
You mean you're conceding the French asked you guys to go fly a kite as well. Suddenly, Britain appears to be a pariah state and everybody's favourite whipping boy. I wonder why. The icing on the cake, of course, is Johnson in Downing Street. Who says hustlers don't get rewarded? @Superkaif
 
A Person said:
Since the UK couldn't count on the US for assistance here, they turned back to Europe. But since they've spent the last three years antagonizing the EU at every opportunity with that whole Brexit fiasco
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They turned to European countries, not the EU. Jeez, the idea is protecting ships, not having an endless debate resulting in an agreement to extend the regulation of fruit produce.
 
Gautam said:
Indian Warships To Stay Longer In Persian Gulf, But Won't Join US Bloc

Indian navy, which has traditionally operated closer to home waters, has over past year or so begun deployments across the Indian Ocean.

All India | Reuters | Updated: July 18, 2019 21:56 IST
i7fj6jao_ins-chennai-gulf-twitter-_625x300_21_June_19.jpg

The INS Chennai and INS Sunanya are among the warships deployed by the Navy in the Gulf.

New Delhi: Indian warships escorting merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf will remain deployed for the longer term, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as tensions between Iran and Western powers rise.

But the two ships, backed by surveillance aircraft, will not be part of a military coalition that the United States is assembling to safeguard the waters off Iran near the Straits of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil moves, the two officials said.

Since June following attacks on tankers that the United States blamed on Iran and Iran-aligned fighters, a charged Tehran denies, the navy ships have been escorting Indian-flagged vessels in and out of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

"This is not going to stop, the situation being what it is, we will be there for the foreseeable future," said an official with knowledge of naval deployments.

The Indian Navy, which has traditionally operated closer to home waters, has over past year or so begun deployments across the Indian Ocean stretching from the Malacca Strait in Southeast Asia to waters off Africa, largely as a response to China's expanding weight across the region.

But the maritime operation in the Gulf is also to heed U.S. President Donald Trump's call that major buyers of Middle East oil protect their own tankers, a second official with knowledge of India's policy on the region said.

The issue figured during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Trump on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Japan last month and PM Modi told the U.S. leader he had sent ships to protect Indian-flagged vessels, the official said.

Trump has been putting pressure on European and Asian allies to shoulder security responsibilities and not depend on the United States alone.

Deepening regional tensions, Iran said on Thursday it had seized a foreign tanker smuggling fuel in the Gulf, and the U.S. military commander in the region said the United States would work "aggressively" to ensure free passage of vessels.

REFUELLING

On Friday, U.S. officials will speak to members of the Washington diplomatic corps about the new initiative to promote freedom of navigation and maritime security around the Strait of Hormuz, the State Department said.

New Delhi will not be formally joining such a force, in large measure because that would pit it directly against Iran, with which it has had historical political and energy ties. It also has never been part of foreign military task forces, preferring to work under the United Nations flag instead, the first official said.

India is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China.

"We will be carrying out the force protection measures on our own for Indian-flagged vessels. So far, nearly two dozen ships have been provided security," the official said.

But there is coordination with the U.S. military with which India has a logistics support agreement, the official said.

Indian naval ships operating in the Gulf have been fuelled by the large fleet of U.S. tankers and such assistance will remain because of the indefinite length of operation, the official said.

There have been no incidents so far involving Indian commercial shipping in the vital waterways.

"I surmise in a conflict we will be neutral. We will be drawn into it only if our shipping is hit," said former naval officer Abhijit Singh, who heads the Maritime Policy Initiative think-tank at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.

Singh said Indian navy ships had sailed in the Persian Gulf earlier though never exclusively to escort merchant marine.

About 15 Indian ships - destroyers, frigates, corvettes and large patrol vessels - are operating at the entry and exit points of the Indian Ocean, stretching from the Malacca Strait, through which much of China's trade and fuel is routed, to the Gulf of Aden in the west.

Indian Warships To Stay Longer In Persian Gulf, But Won't Join US Bloc
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A Person said:
In a naval confrontation with Iran, Great Britain can find neither ships nor friends

“The UK’s strategy, if you look at their most recent [Strategic Defense and Security Review], they say is that ‘Our job is to plug into a U.S.-led force in support of some larger operation, whether that is against a great power or against someone like a Libya,’” Clark said.​

​

“And they’ve designed a Navy and a force that’s like a small version of the U.S. Military, with the idea that they plug that in to the US military. And that led them to pursue those two aircraft carriers, submarines, and if you look on the ground, they’ve got some really high-end units, but they’re really small. They are designed to plug in.”​

​

The primary focus for the Royal Navy is to build its two new aircraft carriers, along with the escorts necessary to defend it, to augment a US force in a large-scale operation. The U.K. is also building a new ballistic missile sub to contribute to deterrence patrols. That strategy, however, leaves little for holding down presence in places where the U.K. has national security interests, Clark continued.​

The UK bet everything on being nothing more than a subservient component of US military might, with no capacity for independent action. So when the US leave them dry, they're left with nothing. They can sing "Britannia rules the waves" and dream that Brexit will bring their empire back; but the simple truth is that the UK has, out of short-term political expediency, let Britons become the slaves of Uncle Sam; believing that it was okay because of the "special relationship". But that "special relationship" is just one more British imperial delusion; the USA do not care about the UK's interests beyond looking at how they could align with US interests.

Since the UK couldn't count on the US for assistance here, they turned back to Europe. But since they've spent the last three years antagonizing the EU at every opportunity with that whole Brexit fiasco, and since they started this slapfight with Iran due to US demands and it makes the EU's diplomatic position more difficult, they're not having much success here. Besides it's not like most EU countries have a navy worth calling for assistance. In particular, the state of Germany's military is a complete joke, largely by design.
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What happening here is a dirty play by UK and US to drag EU to a military confrontation with Iran. EU opposed the US scrapping Iran Nuclear deal which EU spent lot of time and effort to negotiate without even asking EU. Trump and his neocon war mongers like John bolton want war with Iran and want to drag Europeans to yet an other Middle eastern war.


America's good boi in Europe, UK is trying to drag EU to Iran conflict. Ironically, UK seized Iranian ship at the request of US for violating EU ban on Syria. Two things to note

1) EU never asked UK to seize Iranian ship, Americans did the favor and asked to capture it for violating EU sanctions
2) EU never have an Oil export ban to Syria to begin with, their ban is for EU nations from "Importing" oil from Syria!!

At the end of the day, US want Iranian oil export to be Zero, according to their own words (which EU opposed) and playing every dirty play to get there, including capturing Iranian oil ship on flimsy charges, there by increasing risk associated with Iranian oil and discourage anyone from buying it.

Now, America's good boi asked EU sent their navy to persian gulf essentially dragging them to a conflict behalf of the his overlord. Hopefully EU will tell them to "f off"
 
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Reactions: _Anonymous_
Volcano said:
What happening here is a dirty play by UK and US to drag EU to a military confrontation with Iran. EU opposed the US scrapping Iran Nuclear deal which EU spent lot of time and effort to negotiate without even asking EU. Trump and his neocon war mongers like John bolton want war with Iran and want to drag Europeans to yet an other Middle eastern war.


America's good boi in Europe, UK is trying to drag EU to Iran conflict. Ironically, UK seized Iranian ship at the request of US for violating EU ban on Syria. Two things to note

1) EU never asked UK to seize Iranian ship, Americans did the favor and asked to capture it for violating EU sanctions
2) EU never have an Oil export ban to Syria to begin with, their ban is for EU nations from "Importing" oil from Syria!!

At the end of the day, US want Iranian oil export to be Zero, according to their own words (which EU opposed) and playing every dirty play to get there, including capturing Iranian oil ship on flimsy charges, there by increasing risk associated with Iranian oil and discourage anyone from buying it.

Now, America's good boi asked EU sent their navy to persian gulf essentially dragging them to a conflict behalf of the his overlord. Hopefully EU will tell them to "f off"
Click to expand...
1) It was delivering oil to Syria to continue a conflict.

2) It was moving through EU territorial waters.
 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-vanishing-act-in-hormuz-as-tensions-escalate

Oil Tankers’ Tracking Signals Are Vanishing in the Strait of Hormuz
By
Brian Wingfield

and
Julian Lee

July 31, 2019, 5:12 PM GMT+1 Updated on August 1, 2019, 12:01 AM GMT+1


  • Vessels’ signals increasingly going dark near perilous strait

  • Some ships appear to have altered routes amid tensions
1000x-1.jpg


Multiple ships’ signals disappeared from tracking after loading in the Persian Gulf

In this article
CL1WTI Crude57.87USD/bbl.-0.71-1.21%BP/BP PLC538.70GBp-7.00-1.28%
Oil tanker owners are finding a way to reduce the risks of navigating the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important -- and lately most dangerous -- energy chokepoint: vanish from global tracking systems.

Copying from Iran’s own playbook, at least 20 ships turned off their transponders while passing through the strait this month, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Others appear to have slightly altered their routes once inside the Persian Gulf, sailing closer than usual to Saudi Arabia’s coast en route to ports in Kuwait or Iraq.

Before the latest increase in tensions with Iran, ships were more consistent about signaling their positions as they passed through a waterway that handles a third of seaborne petroleum. Once inside the Gulf, shipping routes took them fairly close to the Iranian coast, skirting the offshore South Pars/North gas field shared by Iran and Qatar. Most still do, but a growing number appear to be trying something new.

It’s little surprise that ships are doing everything possible to minimize risk. The Gulf region has witnessed a spate of vessel attacks, tanker seizures and drone shoot-downs since May, all against the backdrop of U.S. sanctions aimed at crippling Iran. War-risk insurance soared for tanker owners seeking to load cargoes in the region.

Two British warships are now situated in the waters around Hormuz where they were recently escorting the nation’s ships. The U.S. 5th Fleet also permanently operates in the region. On Wednesday, the Norwegian Maritime Authority advised the country’s flagged vessels to minimize transit time in Iran’s territorial waters. Tanker captains have become increasingly nervous about the risks of getting caught up in the conflict.

See QuickTake on the Strait of Hormuz

At least 12 vessels loaded in Saudi Arabia and shut off their transponders while passing through the strait within the past month. They include the supertanker Kahla, which turned off its signal on July 20 before passing through the strait. It reappeared two days later on the other side of the waterway.

Likewise, at least eight vessels that loaded in Iraq and Kuwait went dark while leaving the Strait of Hormuz. A vessel shipping from the U.A.E. also dropped off tracking systems.

The apparent shutdown of signals coincides with a slew of disruptions in the region. On July 11, the Royal Navy intervened to prevent Iran from impeding a tanker operated by BP Plc from passing through Hormuz. Three days later, Iran seized a Panama-flagged vessel. On July 19, Iranian forces took control of a British-flagged tanker in retaliation for similar action by U.K. authorities. The vessel, the Stena Impero, remains impounded.

Strait of Hormuz - A Timeline of Events
Ships go dark when they want to avoid prying eyes -- Iranian vessels have been doing it on and off for years because of sanctions that penalized buyers of the nation’s oil. Tankers occasionally turn off their signals when rounding the Arabian peninsula, near flash points in Yemen. This doesn’t make vessels invisible or hide them from radar, though it does make their movements harder to track.

In addition to the signal losses, ships are starting to steer clear as Hormuz increasingly becomes a riskier area. British-flagged tankers have fled the region, and BP is no longer sending its ships and crews through the strait. Some tanker owners have been avoiding sending their ships to the Middle East’s main refueling hub -- Fujairah on the eastern side of the United Arab Emirates -- due to the perceived threat to commercial vessels.

Al Riqqa, Dar Salwa and Al Funtas are among tankers that stayed relatively close to the Saudi side of the Persian Gulf while en route to Kuwait earlier this month. In addition, at least four ships -- the Jaladi, Wafrah, Ghazal and Safaniyah -- steered closer to the U.A.E. than usual while passing through Hormuz. It’s not known whether the unusual movements were a response to the mounting tensions or for other reasons.
 
Is Israel Flying F-35s In Iraq To Hit Iran Missile Shipments?

Is Israel Flying F-35s In Iraq To Hit Iran Missile Shipments?
New reports emerge of Israeli strikes in Iraq, as a prominent Senator (and Trump ally) pushes a new security pact between Washington and Jerusalem.
By ARIE EGOZI and PAUL MCLEARYon July 30, 2019 at 5:15 PM

https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2019/06/F-35I-Older Forum-Adir-first-flight-over-Israel-CzlFctcXEAATp5_-1024x683.jpg
Israeli F-35Is in action.

TEL AVIV and WASHINGTON: Reports are emerging of Israeli strikes inside Iraq targeting Iranian ballistic missile shipments. If true, the reported F-35Is missions targeting two Iranian bases would represent a sharp escalation of Israeli attacks on Iranian forces operating in the region, and mark the first Israeli strikes in Iraq since the bold 1981 bombing that destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nascent nuclear program.

The London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that Israel attacked one camp in Salah-Din Province in northwestern Iraq using F-35I aircraft, contradicting initial reports which claimed an unmanned aircraft carried out the strike. Adding to that report, Al-Arabiya said the bombing killed several Hezbollah officers along with members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Reports indicate that the target was home to Iranian-produced ballistic missiles concealed in food refrigeration trucks.

Major Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, former head of the Older Forum’s military intelligence arm told Breaking Defense that Iraq is a logistical artery for Iran, allowing Tehran to ship weapons and forces to Syria and Lebanon.

Yadlin believes that the reports of Israeli involvement are most likely true. “Apparently, Israel is really operating in Iraq,” he said. “It is sensible that Israel will not claim responsibility for such an attack as it may complicate things for the US. Without referring to the specific attack I can say that the F-35 is the ideal aircraft for such an attack.”

A second incident, according to Al-Awsat, involved an Israeli strike on Camp Ashraf, the former headquarters of the Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahedin of Iran, just north of Baghdad. That strike supposedly was aimed at a group of Iranian advisers and another ballistic missile shipment.

The alleged strikes come after Israeli sources warned earlier this month that Iran was building a logistical storage base in Iraq for missiles to be deployed to Syria or Lebanon for attacks on Israel. While the camps north of Baghdad are some distance from the Syrian border, the mostly empty desert expanses of the area between Baghdad and Syria have long been exploited by smugglers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, head of Older Forum Intelligence Maj. Gen. Tamir Heyman, and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen all recently warned Iraq against allowing Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers to operate in the country.

Israel has kept silent about the attacks, but they would fit within the Israeli policy of doing everything needed to prevent Iran from using its allies and proxies to place rockets and missiles close to Israel. In 2018, Israel admitted that it had launched more than 200 strikes in Syria, including strikes by the F-35I.



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Those strikes were fully supported in Washington, where US policymakers have long warned Iran about threatening Israel’s security through arms shipments to Syria and Lebanon, and the training and equipping of Hezbollah and other Syrian forces.

On a call with reporters today, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he is working to build bipartisan support for a new security agreement between the US and Israel that “would be narrowly tailored to existential threats,” similar to NATO’s Article 5. Graham said he has mentioned the effort to President Donald Trump, but didn’t indicate whether Trump was receptive to the idea. As Breaking D readers know, there is scant support in Israelfor such a move.

Graham said he has been frustrated that there is no explicit security agreement between the US and Israel. A new pact would be “a logical extension of our relationship,” and would spell out “when it comes to [facing] an existential threat, Israel can rely on the US, and vice versa.” Spearheading such an agreement “could be one of the most important things I ever do,” Graham said, adding that he an agreement as being a very narrowly focused agreement that would be triggered only when national survival is at stake.

Senior researchers at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, Eldad Shavit and Sima Shine, write in a recent paper that the relationship between Baghdad and Washington has eroded since the new Iraqi government took power in October 2018. The Shiite-led government relies on the support of stridently pro-Iranian Shiite factions, which flatly reject being part of the Trump Administration’s sanctions regime against Tehran.



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By COLIN CLARK

Despite that, the Trump Administration remains eager to put an end to Iraq’s energy purchases from Iran, even though Baghdad remains heavily reliant on gas and electricity imports from its neighbor. But the results of US pressure have been mixed. Iraq has been granted a brief exemption from US sanctions for importing gas from Iran, and another on electricity imports. In contrast with his decision to remove the US forces from Syria and Afghanistan, Trump has not said he wants to withdraw any of the 5,200 US troops from Iraq.

Iran sees the continued US military presence in Iraq as a direct threat to its interests, and has conveyed a clear deterrent message to Baghdad regarding the consequences of a military confrontation. “Iraq gets a lot of financial and other help from Iran,” Shavit said. “And therefore it is limited in acting against Tehran. The Iranians see Iraq as their strategic depth” against the US.
 
@BMD

Owner Of Ship Seized By Iran Writes To PM Modi To Intervene, Save Crew

The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero was seized by Iran while passing through the Hormuz Strait. It was done in retaliation, after Iran's own tanker Grace 1 was detained by Britain in the Strait of Gibraltar.

All India | Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: August 10, 2019 15:24 IST
u7k7506o_stena-impero-reuters_625x300_27_July_19.jpg

British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero was seized by Iran while passing through the Hormuz Strait

New Delhi: The owner of British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which was seized by Iran on July 19 with 23 crew, including 18 Indians on board, has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally intervene to seek the release of the vessel.

In a letter to the prime minister, Stena Bulk's chief executive and president Erik Hanell, said since the ship was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards while passing through the Hormuz Strait, the crew members, - 18 Indian, three Russian, one Filipino and one Latvian - have been detained on the vessel at anchor off Bandar Abbas.

Mr Hanell said while the seafarers are proud professionals, "they are becoming increasingly concerned about their fate and their families, increasingly worried about the continued detention of their loved ones, particularly as they are guilty of no crime".

He said that Stena Impero and the crew acted in a professional manner and broke no rules or regulations whether local or international. "Despite our repeated requests for access to the vessel, so far this has not been permitted for evidence gathering."

He added that the ship has no involvement in geo-political matters, nor wishes to have any.

He thanked the prime minister for the visit by Indian Embassy officials in Tehran to the vessel in Bandra Abbas to meet the crew.

"However, before the situation with those on board and with their families becomes more distressing, I would request you to personally intervene and ask for the release of the crew back to their families, who anxiously await their safe return."

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Indian embassy in Tehran is in "constant contact" with the Iranian authorities for the release and repatriation of the 18 Indian crew members on board Stena Impero.

The ship was seized by Iran in retaliation after its own tanker Grace 1 was detained by Britain in the Strait of Gibraltar


Owner Of Ship Seized By Iran Writes To PM Modi To Intervene, Save Crew
 
Levolution hack being used by US Marines.

US Marines sailed through the Strait of Hormuz with an armored vehicle on the flattop's flight deck, ready to fight off Iranian gunboats

US Marines sailed through the Strait of Hormuz with an armored vehicle on the flattop's flight deck, ready to fight off Iranian gunboats


Ryan Pickrell

,
Business Insider•August 15, 2019

52e69b44b1e6c45cbec0c977df5fc14a


An AH-1Z Viper attached to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163 (Reinforced), 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) takes off during a strait transit aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4)
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Dalton S. Swanbeck



  • Photos from a recent Strait of Hormuz transit by the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Boxer showed an 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit light armored vehicle parked on the flight deck, a sign that this warship was expecting trouble in the hostile waterway.
 
Indian crew aboard Iranian oil tanker released in Gibraltar

PTI/London
Filed on August 16, 2019 | Last updated on August 16, 2019 at 06.36 am
AR-190819437.jpg&MaxW=780&imageVersion=16by9&NCS_modified=20190816054010

(Agencies)
Gibraltar releases seized Iranian tanker.

The police proceedings against four Indian crew members, including the captain, aboard an Iranian oil supertanker has ended and they were released by authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday, even as the US Department of Justice made a last-minute claim on the vessel.

"I am grateful and thankful for my release. And I am grateful to all who have facilitated my release in my legal team," the Captain of the Grace 1 tanker said in a statement.

A spokesman for Gibraltar's government also confirmed that police proceedings against four members of the crew had ended.

The arrested Indian crew members - the Master, Chief Officer and two Second Mates - were aboard the Panama-flagged supertanker that was detained off Europa Point in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the Spanish coast, last month.

The Gibraltar authorities had said the vessel is loaded to capacity with crude oil enroute to Syria, in breach of European Union (EU) sanctions.

However, the Gibraltar authorities have since been given assurances from the arrested crew members and Iran that the ship was not on its way to Syria.

A total of 28 crew on board the vessel include majority Indians but also Russians, Latvians and Filipinos, who have spent over a month in detention on board the ship since it was seized in early July.

The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs tweeted that all 24 Indian crew members had been released:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1161971561613578240

Grace 1 was released on Thursday - seized off the country's coast in July for breaching international sanctions on oil shipments, despite a last-minute plea by the US authorities to block it.

Gibraltar said the decision was made after it received formal written assurances from Tehran that the ship would not discharge its cargo in Syria, the BBC reported.

Grace 1 tanker was detained by authorities in Gibraltar on July 4 with the help of Royal Marines on the suspicion that it was ferrying over 2 million barrels of crude oil to Syria in breach of European sanctions. The move triggered a standoff with Tehran.

Gibraltar's Chief Justice Anthony Dudley said that no US application was currently lying before the court.

At an earlier hearing, Gibraltar Attorney General Joseph Triay said the US Department of Justice had applied to have the ship seized, media reports said.

Confirming that the tanker had been "released from detention", Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said that the US Justice Department had requested that a "new legal procedure for the detention of the vessel should be commenced".

"That is a matter for our independent Mutual Legal Assistance authorities who will make an objective, legal determination of that request for separate proceedings," he added.

Picardo said the vessel was no longer covered by EU sanctions, therefore there was no reason for the ship to be detained, media reports said.

A spokesman for Gibraltar government said that police proceedings against all four members of the crew, including the captain - an Indian national - had ended, the BBC reported.

The seizure of the tanker in July led to reprisals by Tehran, including the capture of the British-flagged Stena Impero in the Gulf.

"We have reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria," Spain's acting Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said at the time, adding that the US had asked the UK to intercept the ship. Gibraltar is an British overseas territory on the edge of southern Spain.

Both incidents fuelled worsening hostilities between Iran and the West that began when the US pulled out of an international agreement curbing Iran's nuclear programme in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions.

Last week, the UK announced it would join a US-led taskforce to protect merchant ships travelling through the key shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.

Indian crew aboard Iranian oil tanker released in Gibraltar
 
It was always going to Syria.

Iranian oil tanker pursued by US says it is going to Turkey

Iranian oil tanker pursued by US says it is going to Turkey


JON GAMBRELL

,
Associated Press•August 24, 2019

e102911f2d7d5b2f9b33d1ff0b43eaa9


A view of the Grace 1 supertanker is seen through the sea fog, in the British territory of Gibraltar, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, seized last month in a British Royal Navy operation off Gibraltar. The United States moved on Thursday to halt the release of the Iranian supertanker Grace 1, detained in Gibraltar for breaching EU sanctions on oil shipments to Syria, thwarting efforts by authorities in London and the British overseas territory to defuse tensions with Tehran. (AP Photo/Marcos Moreno)

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian-flagged oil tanker pursued by the U.S. amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington changed its listed destination to a port in Turkey early Saturday after Greece said it wouldn't risk its relations with America by aiding it.

The crew of the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, updated its listed destination in its Automatic Identification System to Mersin, Turkey, a port city in the country's south and home to an oil terminal.

However, mariners can input any destination into the AIS, so Turkey may not be its true destination. Mersin is some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of a refinery in Baniyas, Syria, where authorities alleged the Adrian Darya had been heading before being seized off Gibraltar in early July.

Iranian state media and officials did not immediately acknowledge the new reported destination of the Adrian Darya, which carries 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil worth some $130 million. Nor was there any immediate reaction from Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan deals directly with Tehran and Russia over Syria's long war.

The ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com showed the Adrian Darya's position as just south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. At current speeds, it estimated the Adrian Darya would reach Mersin in about a week.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, said Saturday it had successfully test-fired a "new missile" a day earlier, but did not elaborate on the type of weapon, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday debuted an Iran-made air-defense missile system, the Bavar-373. In June, Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump came close to retaliating but called off an airstrike at the last moment.

The Adrian Darya's detention and later release by Gibraltar have added fuel to the growing tensions between Washington and Tehran, after Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago over concerns about Iran's ballistic missile program and regional influence. In the time since, Iran lost billions of dollars in business deals allowed by the deal, as the U.S. re-imposed and created sanctions largely blocking Tehran from selling crude oil aboard, a crucial source of hard currency for the Islamic Republic.

In U.S. federal court documents, authorities allege the Adrian Grace's true owner is Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organization answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The U.S. declared the Guard a foreign terror organization in April, the first time America named a military force of a nation as such, giving it the legal power to issue a warrant for the vessel's seizure. However, that would require another nation to acknowledge the writ.
 
Three Friends
India
Israel
U.S.A

Three foes
Pakistan
Leobnan
Iran

Interestingly the friends are on brink of war with their respective foes at the same time. It can't be mere coincidence.😉😉😉😉
 
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