Hours before the British territory Gibraltar was set to release Grace 1, an Iranian supertanker that Britain's Royal Navy seized July 4 on suspicions of smuggling oil to Syria, the U.S. put in a last-minute request Thursday to take custody of the supertanker instead. "The U.S. Department of Justice has applied to seize the Grace 1 on a number of allegations which are now being considered," Gibraltar's government said in a statement. "The matter will return to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar" Thursday afternoon. Britain's Foreign Office said "investigations conducted around the Grace 1 are a matter for the government of Gibraltar."
Britain's seizure of the Iranian tanker had sparked a diplomatic row with Tehran, and Iran's Revolution Guard Corps nabbed a British-flagged Swedish tanker, Stena Impero, on July 19. Last week, Britain said it will join the U.S. in having its Navy escort merchant ships past Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Gibraltar said releasing Grace 1 was part of a bid to "de-escalate" the situation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Quiz of The Week: 9 – 15 AugustQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
Britain's giant rat problemRising infestation reports and increased sightings of oversized rats have caused concerns about waste management in some areas
-
The Week Unwrapped: Has Donald Trump secured his Nobel Peace Prize?Podcast Plus, what does the use of North Korean and Indian labour tell us about the Russian war economy? And why have we all gone crazy for pickles?
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
