Iran says it has sold oil from ship freed by Gibraltar

Iran said yesterday it had sold the oil aboard a tanker that was released this month after being detained for six weeks by the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Adrian Darya 1, formerly named the Grace 1, was seized by Gibraltar police and British special forces on July 4 on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has sold the oil of this ship and right now the owner and buyer of the oil decides... what the destination of the consignment will be,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said, quoted by state media. He did not identify the buyer or say whether the oil had been sold before or after the tanker’s detention in the Strait of Gibraltar, on Spain’s southern tip.

A court in the British territory ordered the tanker’s release on August 15 despite a last-minute legal bid by the United States to have it detained. The Adrian Darya 1 set sail three days later for the eastern Mediterranean, carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil worth more than $140 million.

It is now located in the middle of the Mediterranean, its target listed as “for order” meaning it is waiting for its next destination, according to the website MarineTraffic.