generalspeaking

Saturday, July 06, 2019

Embattled, Economically Devastated, Enfeebled Iran

"This is the first time that the European Union has done something so public and so aggressive. I imagine it was also co-ordinated in some manner with the United States, given that NATO member forces have been involved."
"This is likely to have been meant as a signal to Syria and Iran -- as well as the U.S. -- that Europe takes sanctions enforcement seriously and that the EU can also respond to Iranian brinksmanship related to ongoing nuclear negotiations."
Matthew Oresman, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm, sanctions advisers

The super tanker is currently anchored off the coast of Gibraltar A Royal Marine patrol vessel sits next to the Grace 1 supertanker off Gibraltar. Photograph: Marcos Moreno/AP

"That refinery [Baniyas refinery in Syria] is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria."
"With my consent, our port and law enforcement agencies sought the assistance of the Royal Marines in carrying out this operation."
"Thanks to] the brave men and women of the Royal Marines, the Royal Gibraltar Police, Her Majesty's Customs Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Port Authority for detaining the vessel and its cargo."
"Be assured that Gibraltar remains safe, secure and committed to the international, rules-based, legal order."
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo

"The vessel sailed at a fairly slow speed as it was in no rush. [Tanker Trackers does not believe the vessel was carrying crude oil, but instead fuel oil from Iran's Abadan Refinery]."

"We can also see that she is heavily laden in the water. Her hull is 22.5 meters deep, meaning that she is carrying 2 million barrels of a very heavy liquid. Heavier than crude oil."

"Not only that, but her previous assignments were transfers of fuel oil in Umm Qasr [Iraq] and Khor Fakkan [UAE]."

Samir Madani, co-founder, Tanker Trackers

Grace 1 was boarded by Royal British Marines and Gibraltarian authorities

The supertanker Grace I flies a Panamanian flag, and the giant ship is listed with a management company in Singapore, but if there was any doubt that it was owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran that was dispelled when Iran's Foreign Ministry brought in the British ambassador in Tehran to let him know in no uncertain terms the profound displeasure of "its very strong objection to the illegal and unacceptable seizure" of its ship.

According to shipping data, the tanker was carrying Iranian oil which had been loaded off the coast of Iran despite documentation claiming the oil to have been from neighbouring Iraq. Since 2011, shipments to Syria have been banned by Europe in response to the civil war and the regime's war crimes in bombarding its Sunni Syrian citizens with barrel bombs and chemical agents. Never before, however, has a member of the EU moved to enforce its ban by seizing a tanker at sea.

And nor does Europe impose broad sanctions against Iran, so this move by the British Royal Marines in seizing the Grace I as it sailed circuitously to its destination, rounding the Strait of Gibraltar instead of the shorter Suez Canal route hoping to avoid detection, constitutes a surprise move, one that has been hailed by the United States National Security Adviser, calling it "excellent news".

To the present, countries in the EU have attempted to appear neutral as the confrontation between Tehran and Washington has escalated since the Trump administration left the nuclear agreement that saw Iran agree to put its nuclear plans on hold, while at the same time it continued to develop its ballistic missiles. Iran's aggrieved spite against increasingly imposed U.S. sanctions biting into its economy even deeper led it to act in two instances to attack oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran conspicuously announced its intention to increase its stocks of enriched uranium which the 2015 nuclear deal had banned. A result of Iranian fury over the imposition of an 'illegal' and frustrating 'economic war', the U.S. is waging against it, in an effort to bring it back to the negotiating table to begin again to hammer out conditions under a new, revised nuclear agreement which Iran adamantly refuses.

Iran increased the level of its provocations over being boxed in by the U.S. several weeks ago when it shot down an American drone, leading President Trump to order response air strikes -- called off at the final moment of attack. Iran is not averse to testing U.S. resolve to bring it to an agreement toward renegotiating the nuclear deal. British authorities acting in this matter has most certainly taken Iran by surprise however, given the anxiety of the EU to convince Iran to remain in the 2015 agreement.