This archive report was first published on 17 August 2019.
On August 16, 2019, a Gibraltar judge ordered the release of the Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1, which was detained on July 4 on suspicion of illegally transporting oil to Syria.
However, the US Justice Department issued a warrant to seize the tanker just a day later, citing alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, bank fraud, money laundering, and terrorism statutes.
The warrant also orders the seizure of $995,000 from an account at an unnamed US bank linked to Paradise Global Trading LLC, which the US claims is associated with businesses that act for Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The US designates Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organisation.
Iran had previously called the detention of Grace 1 an "illegal interception" and had seized the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz two weeks after Grace 1 was detained.
Gibraltar's government had received assurances from Iran that Grace 1 would not sail to countries subject to European Union sanctions, including Syria.
