He “called for the immediate release of the oil tanker, given that it has been seized at the request of the US, based on the information currently available”, the statement added. In a statement, Britain’s Foreign Office said “we welcome this firm action by the Gibraltarian authorities, acting to enforce the EU Syria Sanctions regime”. It has frozen the assets of around 70 entities and introduced an embargo on Syrian oil, investment restrictions and a freeze on Syrian central bank assets within the EU. “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” Bolton tweeted. It reported that the ship loaded oil off Iran in April and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Source: The Guardian July 05, 2019 07:07 UTC