Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday in New York to discuss the situation around an Iranian supertanker seized by the British Navy, Reuters reported, citing the IRNA news agency.
On 4 July, the government of Gibraltar said its law enforcement agencies, assisted by the Royal Marines, had detained an Iranian supertanker loaded with an estimated two million barrels of crude oil. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said that his government “had reasons to believe” that the tanker was headed to the Banyas Refinery, which belongs to an entity subject to EU sanctions against Syria. Iran denied that the Grace 1 was transporting oil to Syria for refinement.