Confusion as Turkey Says Iranian Tanker Now Headed Toward Lebanon

A crew member takes pictures with a mobile phone on Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, August 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

By Nerijus Adomaitis and Jonathan Spicer OSLO/ISTANBUL, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Turkey said on Friday that an Iranian tanker at the center of a confrontation between Washington and Tehran was headed to Lebanon’s waters after changing course several times, although Beirut said it was not informed of the plan.

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.

When the ship was released off Gibraltar in mid-August after a five-week standoff, Iran assured the United Kingdom that the cargo was not headed to Syria.

The latest twist sets it in the direction of Syria, and raises the possibility that a ship-to-ship transfer of cargo may be attempted once it nears Lebanon’s coast.

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).”

WESTERN THREATS

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.

The ship had been detained off Gibraltar due to British suspicion that it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.

The United States, which says the tanker is controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which it considers a terrorist group, has told countries in the region not to help the vessel.

Washington last year pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran aimed at blocking its path to a nuclear bomb, and has ramped up sanctions to pressure and isolate Tehran. Iran denies ever having sought to build or acquire a nuclear weapon.

Cavusoglu told Reuters that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke about the ship’s coordinates with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday. In a readout of the call, London said the leaders agreed it was vital to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon but did not mention the tanker.

OPTIONS AHEAD

Shipping sources said the tanker would need to conduct a ship-to-ship transfer before being able to enter a port such as Beirut’s, which does not have deep water facilities necessary for fully laden supertankers.

It could potentially discharge its cargo offshore towards Lebanon’s Tripoli port further north, which is closer to Syria’s coastline between Lebanon and Turkey, they said. There is a ship-to-ship transfer anchorage outside of Tripoli port limits.

Beirut and Tripoli ports have both served as transhipment hubs for cargoes bound for Syria in recent years during Syria’s conflict.

An Iranian government spokesman was quoted on Monday as saying Iran had sold the oil aboard the tanker and that the vessel’s owner, whose identity he did not disclose, would decide its destination.

After its release at Gibraltar, the ship stated that its destination was the Greek port of Kalamata, then Turkey’s Mersin. On Thursday, it abruptly changed course, heading first west then south, away from the Turkish coast.

While west of Cyprus on Friday morning, it did a similar manouevre, doubling back on itself. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut, Michele Kambas in Athens and Jonathan Saul in London; Editing by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019.