The U.S. has slapped sanctions on an Iranian oil tanker and its captain at the centre of a diplomatic dispute, claiming that Iran still plans to send the ship to Syria.
The Adrian Darya 1 tanker was located off the northern tip of Cyprus on Saturday afternoon and appeared to be headed to the Turkish port of Iskenderun, according to the tracking site MarineTraffic.
Turkish media reports however said it seemed to be heading for Lebanon.
“The Adrian Darya 1 is being identified as blocked property pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorism or acts of terrorism,” the Treasury Department in Washington said in a statement on Friday.
The tanker was held in Gibraltar for more than six weeks over suspicions it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of Eurpean Union (EU) sanctions.
It left there earlier this month after the Supreme Court of the British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain granted the tanker free passage – despite the U.S. calling for it to be held.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke of “reliable information” that the tanker is now sailing to the Syrian port of Tartus, even though Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had guaranteed Britain that the ship would not head for Syria.
“I hope it changes course.
“It was a big mistake to trust Zarif,” Pompeo tweeted.
The U.S. contends that the oil tanker, captained by Akhilesh Kumar, is transporting 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil and ultimately benefitting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.
“Vessels like the Adrian Darya 1 enable the IRGC-QF to ship and transfer large volumes of oil, which they attempt to mask and sell illicitly to fund the regime’s malign activities and propagate terrorism.
“Anyone providing support to the Adrian Darya 1 risks being sanctioned,” said Sigal Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
“Sanctions are serious, and so is captaining a vessel engaged in illicit activity.
”Let this be a lesson to anyone tempted to support moving Iranian oil destined for (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad’s murderous regime,” U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton tweeted.
The conflict between the U.S. and Iran recently saw signs of thawing after last weekend’s G7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz. Despite the sanctions, Iran focused on the thawing on Saturday.
“After the meeting between (French President Emmanuel) Macron and (U.S. president Donald) Trump, there are initial signs of flexibility on the part of the U.S. side regarding our sanctioned oil exports,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state news agency IRNA on Saturday.
Iran, which is facing economic turmoil as a result of U.S. sanctions, hopes oil exports, a major source of revenue for the country, can be restored through negotiations in France.
Another option, according to Araghchi, would be billions in credit or export credit from the EU.
Macron had sought to make progress in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran at the G7 summit, where Trump expressed an interest in meeting his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rowhani.
Rowhani also declared his willingness in principle, but demanded that Trump first lift the sanctions on Iran.
The Iranian president is expected in the US at the end of September, where he plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, when he could possibly meet Trump.
Araghchi, however, considers a bilateral meeting between Trump and Rowhani unlikely, but a meeting is conceivable in New York of all the parties involved in the 2015 agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanction.
Trump unilaterally terminated the nuclear deal with Iran and is currently increasing the political and economic pressure on Tehran.
U.S. claims that there had been an accident during preparations to launch a new Iranian communications satellite earlier in the week has also irked Iran.
Telecoms Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi posted a selfie of himself and the Nahid I satellite on his Twitter feed, after Trump said there had been a “catastrophic accident” at the site.
“Me & Nahid I right now, Good Morning Donald Trump!” Jahromi wrote.
Based on images taken by private satellites, U.S. media reported that there had been an explosion at the Iranian launch site.
