Controversial Iranian VLCC enters Turkish waters (and hesitates...)

[Ghost Dog]

Last edited Fri Aug 30, 2019, 03:21 PM - Edit history (1)

August 29th, 2019

The Iranian VLCC Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as Grace 1, entered Turkish territorial waters this morning and appears to be on course for the port of Mersin...



... The fully laden ship must offload part of its cargo in order to transit the Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, the Stena Impero, which has been detained in Iranian waters since July 19, likely in retaliation for the capturing of the Iranian VLCC earlier, could be freed soon.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif promised today to “expedite” the legal affairs with regards to the UK-flagged tanker.

https://splash247.com/controversial-iranian-vlcc-enters-turkish-waters/

[Ghost Dog]

1. The ship has now turned 180 degrees and is heading

back the way it came, in international waters once again.

[Ghost Dog]

2. Now reports destination: Turkish port of Iskenderun.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Turkey says Iranian tanker now headed towards Lebanon

... According to Refinitiv tracking data, the Adrian Darya, formerly called Grace 1, made another U-turn on Friday and headed for Turkey’s Iskenderun port - 200 km (124 miles) north of Syria’s Baniyas refinery, the tanker’s suspected original destination...

... Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that despite the tracking data, the tanker was “for sure” not going to Turkish ports but rather towards Lebanese waters.

Earlier on Friday, the minister told Reuters the ship was headed to Lebanon’s “main” port. “I didn’t mean that this tanker is going to a Lebanese port, but (rather) according to the information coordinates it is heading to the territorial waters of the country,” he later told reporters at an Oslo forum. “It doesn’t mean that it is going to reach a Lebanese port,” he said of the tanker that was carrying 2 million barrels of oil when released at Gibraltar. “We are monitoring it very closely.”

In response, Lebanese Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said in a separate interview: “We have not been informed of the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya heading (here).” .The apparent confusion underlines the risk of reprisal that countries face taking in the tanker, which at 14:00 GMT was headed east toward the channel separating Turkey and Cyprus after a series of turns in the Mediterranean Sea, according to tracking data...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-iran-tanker/confusion-as-turkey-says-iranian-tanker-now-headed-towards-lebanon-idUKKCN1VK0N4

[Ghost Dog]

4. Update:

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - An Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a dispute between Washington and Tehran is no longer heading towards Turkey’s Iskenderun port and now has no specified destination, Refinitiv ship tracking data showed on Saturday.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday blacklisted the tanker, Adrian Darya 1, which was detained by Britain off Gibraltar in July due to British suspicion it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-iran-tanker/iranian-oil-tanker-no-longer-has-turkish-destination-ship-tracking-data-idUKKCN1VL0HV

[Eugene]

5. Mike Pompeo: "We have reliable information that the tanker is underway and headed to Tartus, Syria."

US blacklists Iranian tanker Mike Pompeo says is heading to Syria (Agence France-Presse)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/31/us-iranian-tanker-adrian-darya-syria