The United States unsealed a seizure
warrant and forfeiture complaint Friday against the Iranian oil tanker
Grace 1 for allegedly trying to "unlawfully access the U.S. financial
system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran."
This further complicates the fate of the oil tanker that has been stuck
in Gibraltar since the British Royal Marines seized it on July 4. On
Thursday, the British struck a deal to return the impounded ship.
The U.S. government alleges that that all the crude oil plus $995,000
are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International
emergency Economic Powers Act, the Justice Department said in a
statement. Iran is also accused of bank fraud, money laundering and
terrorism.
The documents were unsealed in U.S. District Court. The Justice
Department said they are only allegations and the burden is on the
government to prove it.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said it would block visas or
admission into the United States for all the crew members of the Grace 1
because they are assisting Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
Complicating matters further, even though the ship is free to leave the
captain doesn't want to be in command anymore and has asked that Iran
replace him, his lawyer Richard Wilkinson said.
"He doesn't want to stay in command of the ship, he wants to go home,
because he wasn't happy to go back and pick up the broken pieces,"
Wilkinson said. "But he's a professional skipper and needs to wait for a
new crew to do a proper handover."
The British originally seized the ship over claims it was transporting oil to Syria, a violation of European Union sanctions.
On Friday, smoke appeared to be coming from the funnel but the anchor was still secured in the water.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi remained non-committal about the tanker's destination.
"For the release of the Grace 1 oil tanker, Iran made no commitment that the ship would not go to Syria because from
the early hours of the tanker's detention, we announced that Syria was
not its destination and we have upheld the same and reiterated that it
was nobody's business even if it was Syria," Mousavi said.
Tehran warned Britain of retaliation and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
made good on its promise by capturing the oil tanker Sena Impero.
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