{"id":34506,"date":"2019-07-05T18:58:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T22:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=34506"},"modified":"2019-07-05T18:58:20","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T22:58:20","slug":"uk-conspires-with-trump-administration-to-provoke-iran-into-war-via-illegal-tanker-seizure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=34506","title":{"rendered":"UK Conspires With Trump Administration to Provoke Iran Into War Via Illegal Tanker Seizure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><div id=\"attachment_82241\" style=\"width: 790px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/themillenniumreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/190704133402-02-grace-1-gibraltar-0704-exlarge-169.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-82241\" class=\"size-full wp-image-82241\" src=\"http:\/\/themillenniumreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/190704133402-02-grace-1-gibraltar-0704-exlarge-169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-82241\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Iranian oil tanker bound for Syria seized by Britain (AP Photo\/Marcos Moreno)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<h1>Iran Threatens Seizure Of UK Oil Tankers In Response To Royal Marines Boarding Its Own<\/h1>\n<p>ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n<p>Iran has called for the &#8220;immediate release&#8221; of its oil tanker after British Royal Marines boarded and seized it off Gibraltar a day ago after it took a long 90-day trek around the tip of Africa, presumably to evade sanctions enforcement en route to Syria. Authorities had accused the Grace 1 supertanker of illegal smuggling as it had reportedly been transiting some <strong>2 million barrels of Iranian oil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Iran&#8217;s foreign ministry had immediately summoned the UK ambassador over the incident, saying the move was &#8220;unacceptable&#8221;. An official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/07\/iran-demands-uk-release-syria-bound-oil-tanker-held-gibraltar-190705065000381.html\">statement of protest<\/a> called for<strong> &#8220;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,&#8221;<\/strong> the statement added.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=QlvP6ofg\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=QlvP6ofg\" data-link-option=\"0\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=mIyPGoGY 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"all and (min-width: 1280px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=mIyPGoGY 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"all and (min-width: 480px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=mIyPGoGY 1x, https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=mIyPGoGY 2x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"all and (min-width: 1024px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=mIyPGoGY 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"all and (min-width: 768px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg?itok=QlvP6ofg 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/inline-images\/Grace1iran.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"3ec95c4b-4934-424a-b847-3beaed50fb49\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Via Reuters: A British Navy patrol vessel guards the oil supertanker Grace 1 in Gibraltar territorial waters.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Iran&#8217;s position is that the EU sanctions on Syria have not been endorsed by the UN, while the US received the news as a positive development in the global crackdown on Iranian oil. <em><strong>&#8220;Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> John Bolton said on Twitter.<\/p>\n<aside id=\"my_spring1\"><\/aside>\n<p>But Syria and Iran as well as some Arab commentators have shot back that the some few dozen Royal Marines seizing the tanker by fast-roping in on helicopter amounts to <strong>&#8220;piracy&#8221;<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>To be expected, Iran&#8217;s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has <strong>threatened to seize a British oil tanker in a tit-for-tat move<\/strong>, and even went so far as to issue a statement saying it was Tehran&#8217;s &#8220;duty&#8221; to respond in kind. According to Middle East war correspondent Elijah Magnier, IRGC sources <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ejmalrai\/status\/1146814956068900865\">said they could<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;Potentially stop any tanker headed towards the UK and sailing in the Gulf.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>According to reports, UK authorities and Gibraltar police are <strong>interviewing the Grace-1&#8217;s 28-member crew to establish its ultimate destination and intent<\/strong>. Most of the crew aboard the Panamanian-flagged ship are said to be Indian, Pakistani, and Ukrainian.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is the route taken by the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a>|ian oil tanker Grace 1 until it was stopped by the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/British?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#British<\/a> in Gibraltar.  Carrying 2 million barrels of oil destined for unloading in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Syria?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Syria<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dFlEd0iWFH\">pic.twitter.com\/dFlEd0iWFH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Middle East Update (@islamicworldupd) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/islamicworldupd\/status\/1147084464008368129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>European officials believe it was on its way to the Syrian port of Banyas and its refinery: <strong>\u201cThat refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria,\u201d<\/strong> Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo had said in the wake of the unprecedented seizure, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-mideast-crisis-syria-gibraltar\/oil-tanker-bound-for-syria-seized-in-gibraltar-for-sanctions-busting-idUSKCN1TZ0GN\">Reuters<\/a>. \u201cWith my consent, our port and law enforcement agencies sought the assistance of the Royal Marines in carrying out this operation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Both the Grace 1 as well as prior tankers attempting to reach Syria&#8217;s coast are accused of &#8220;ghosting&#8221; &#8211; which involves tankers switching off their transponders at sensitive transit points.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of the West&#8217;s renewed devastating fuel sanctions on Syria, which has resulted in miles-long fuel queues outside gas stations &#8211; have pointed out that <strong>the EU has for years allowed weapons shipments to &#8220;rebels&#8221; seeking to ouster President Bashar al-Assad,<\/strong> while at the same time starving the populace of fuel.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2019-07-05\/iran-threatens-seizure-uk-oil-tankers-response-royal-marines-boarding-its-own\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2019-07-05\/iran-threatens-seizure-uk-oil-tankers-response-royal-marines-boarding-its-own<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}