{"id":18765,"date":"2019-09-27T17:12:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T17:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/27\/iran-releases-seized-uk-flagged-tanker\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:45:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:45:21","slug":"iran-releases-seized-uk-flagged-tanker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/09\/27\/iran-releases-seized-uk-flagged-tanker\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran releases seized UK-flagged tanker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran on Friday released a British-flagged oil tanker it had seized in July<\/a>, while the country\u2019s president, returning from an annual United Nations meeting, said he had been told the United States had offered to lift sanctions if Tehran returned to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British-flagged Stena Impero left the port of Bandar Abbas on Friday morning, heading to Dubai where its crew would disembark, the vessel’s Swedish-based ship-owning company Stena Bulk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran seized the tanker on July 19 in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The raid saw commandos rappel down onto the vessel from a helicopter carrying assault rifles in dramatic images later replayed on state television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The raid came after authorities in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory, seized an Iranian supertanker carrying $130 million in crude oil on suspicion it was breaking European Union sanctions by taking the oil to Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gibraltar later released the tanker, then called the Grace 1, after it said Iran promised the ship wouldn\u2019t go to Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That ship, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, later sat off the Syrian coast<\/a>, angering Britain. Iran hasn\u2019t said who purchased its 2.1 million barrels of crude oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\t