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DMEA terminAls & shiPPinG DMEA
Adrian Darya spotted off Syria as Iranian tanker news flows
middle eAst
SATELLITE imagery has shown that Iranian vessel the Adrian darya 1 is moored near the Syrian port of Tartus.
Russian news agency Tass reported on Sep- tember 7 that the ship was moored around 4 km from the coast, with AP later clarifying that the images were provided to the agency by the American rm Maxar Technologies. e ship’s location was later con rmed by Tanker Trackers.
Earlier, Middle East Eye reported that the tanker unloaded the in the Syrian port, however, competing claims suggested that the vessel, for- merly the Grace 1, was merely sitting in Syrian waters to avoid capture by US forces looking to seize the ship.
Assistant American President for National Security John Bolton, in turn, emphasised that the US will not mitigate sanctions against Iran until Tehran ceases to “lie and spread terror”.
“Anyone who said the Adrian darya-1 wasn’t headed to #Syria is in denial,” he said on his Twit- ter account on September 7.
On September 11, Iran’s envoy to London, hamid Baeidinejad said that the cargo was sold “at sea to a private company”.
Speaking to Iran’s IRNA, he said: “EU sanc- tions cannot be extended to third countries. despite numerous threats by America, the tanker sold its oil at sea to a private company and has not violated any obligation.”
he added that the private buyer “sets the sale destination of the oil.”
however, reports the same say cast doubt over claims that the cargo had already been o oaded, with TankerTrackers citing images provided by Planet Labs. TankerTrackers founder Samir Madani said it would “take a STS (ship-to-ship
transfer) with a Suzemax to” o oad the cargo.
Crew released
On September, Russia’s Ria Novosti reported that Iran had freed seven crew members of the Stena Impero, adding that those freed included Russian crewmembers along with citizens of other countries.
“Seven people have been released; this was done at the request of the shipowner, by a deci- sion of the captain. Among the seven released, there is one citizen of Russia, an electrician,” according to the press attaché of the Russian Embassy in Tehran, Andrei Ganenko.
he noted that the minimum number of crew required for the tanker to venture back out to sea remained onboard. e vessel was seized in July.
The announcement of the crewmembers’ release follows e orts by the crew’s embassies not to have them held hostage as tensions between the UK and Iran continue to ramp up.
smugglers held
Meanwhile, Iran seized another commercial ship this week on suspicion of smuggling.
is is the third vessel to be arrested in the last three months over alleged maritime violations.
e latest was reported to be carrying around 284,000 litres of smuggled diesel and the ISNA news agency said the ship’s 12 Filipino crew members had been detained.
One Panama- agged tanker and one reported to belong to Iraq had been seized for smuggling Iranian fuel, with Panamanian authorities con- rming that the former was carrying out illicit activities and withdrawing its registration. Bagh- dad denied any link to the other vessel.™
Week 36 12•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P13