Iran Ships Oil to Syria Despite Promises Made to UK
Iran violated international sanctions by reneging on promises to Britain that it would not use a previously seized oil tanker to deliver oil to Syria, the United Kingdom said in a Sept. 10 press release. The U.K. said it is “now clear that Iran has breached these assurances” and shipped the oil to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime.
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The sanctions violations stem from an incident in July in which Gibraltar Port and Law Enforcement seized Grace 1, an Iranian oil tanker, because British authorities suspected it of shipping oil to Syria (see 1907080022). Gibraltar later released the ship over U.S. objections after receiving “written assurance” from Iran that Grace 1 would not transport oil to Syria, which would violate European Union sanctions (see 1908160034). The U.S. recently sanctioned the ship, which has been renamed Adrian Darya 1 (see 1909030049).
The U.K. said it plans to raise the issue at the United Nations later this month, saying Iran’s actions are an “unacceptable violation of international norms.” U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Iran showed a “complete disregard” for its promises made to Britain, and the sale of the oil to the Assad regime is the latest move in a “pattern” of illegal shipments, including sending weapons to Houthi “insurgents” in Yemen. Raab also “summoned” the Iranian ambassador to condemn Iran’s actions.
“We want Iran to come in from the cold but the only way to do that is to keep its word and comply with the rules based international system,” Raab said in a statement.