Iran: The Indian captain of Iranian supertanker Grace 1, which was at the centre of a diplomatic standoff, no longer wants to keep command of the ship, which is in need of repairs that could impede its immediate departure from Gibraltar, the sailor’s lawyer said on Friday.
The tanker — and its 2.1 million tonnes of Iranian light crude oil — seemed to perform mild manoeuvres on Friday but largely remained still in waters off the British overseas territory a day after authorities ended its detention for allegedly breaching European Union sanctions on Syria, despite US efforts to block the release. The release on Thursday came as the head of the Gibraltar government said that Iran had promised him not to deliver the fuel to a sanctioned refinery in Syrian territory, although an Iranian official later disputed that those assurances had been delivered.
