Gibraltar Seizes Syria-Bound Tanker Thought to Be Carrying Iranian Oil - The New York Times

LONDON — The authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday detained a supertanker that they said was carrying crude oil to Syria, a violation of European Union sanctions against Syria.

Spain said the vessel had been detained at the request of the United States, and Iran summoned the British ambassador over what a Foreign Ministry spokesman called an “illegal” seizure. American and British officials had no immediate response on Thursday.

Shipping experts said that the tanker, the Grace 1, appeared to be carrying Iranian cargo in the Strait of Gibraltar, in an apparent attempt to circumvent United States sanctions imposed by President Trump to choke off Iran’s exports of oil and petrochemical products.

Companies that monitor international shipping say that the vessel turned off its electronic tracking devices as it sailed into Iranian waters, then turned them on again after leaving — a tactic often used to evade the sanctions, though ships can still be followed through satellite photography.

[Read about other ships vanishing in plain sight to evade sanctions on Iran.]

The government of Gibraltar, a British territory contested by Spain, declined to comment on the cargo’s origin, but addressed its destination.

“We have reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Banyas Refinery in Syria,” Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, said in a statement. “That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria.”

Spain’s acting foreign minister, Josep Borrell, told Spanish news media that the oil tanker had been seized following “a request from the United States to the United Kingdom.”

Mr. Borrell, who is set to take over as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that the Spanish government had been kept informed about the seizure, and would study whether it violated its territorial water claims. Spain does not recognize Britain’s sovereignty over Gibraltar, which dates to a 1713 treaty.

“We’re looking at which way this affects our sovereignty, in as far as it took place in waters whose sovereignty we understand to belong to Spain,” Mr. Borrell said, according to the Europa Press news agency and other news reports.

A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Sayed Abbas Mousavi, said in a post on Twitter, that Britain’s ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, had been summoned to the Iranian Embassy over the seizure of the vessel.

The British Foreign Office had no immediate response on Thursday afternoon. The United States National Security Council also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Samir Madani, a co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, which follows maritime traffic using satellite data, said the ship was anchored near the Iranian oil terminal at Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf in mid-April. Later, he said, it sat deep in the water, indicating that it was carrying oil from Iran.

The tanker, which exceeds the size limits for the Suez Canal, sailed around Africa to reach the Mediterranean, ending up in Gibraltar for unexplained reasons.

“For some odd reason they decided to go to Gibraltar,” Mr. Madani said.

Various shipping websites list the tanker as a 300,000-ton vessel more than 1,000 feet long, built in the 1990s and flying the flag of Panama.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-gibraltar-syria-iran.html

2019-07-04 14:27:00Z
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Gibraltar Seizes Syria-Bound Tanker Thought to Be Carrying Iranian Oil - The New York Times

LONDON — The authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday detained a supertanker that they said was carrying crude oil to Syria, a violation of European Union sanctions against Syria.

Spain said the vessel had been detained at the request of the United States, and Iran summoned the British ambassador over what a Foreign Ministry spokesman called an “illegal” seizure. American and British officials had no immediate response on Thursday.

Shipping experts said that the tanker, the Grace 1, appeared to be carrying Iranian cargo in the Strait of Gibraltar, in an apparent attempt to circumvent United States sanctions imposed by President Trump to choke off Iran’s exports of oil and petrochemical products.

Companies that monitor international shipping say that the vessel turned off its electronic tracking devices as it sailed into Iranian waters, then turned them on again after leaving — a tactic often used to evade the sanctions, though ships can still be followed through satellite photography.

The government of Gibraltar, a British territory contested by Spain, declined to comment on the cargo’s origin, but addressed its destination.

“We have reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Banyas Refinery in Syria,” Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, said in a statement. “That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria.”

Spain’s acting foreign minister, Josep Borrell, told Spanish news media that the oil tanker had been seized following “a request from the United States to the United Kingdom.”

Mr. Borrell, who is set to take over as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that the Spanish government had been kept informed about the seizure, and would study whether it violated its territorial water claims. Spain does not recognize Britain’s sovereignty over Gibraltar, which dates to a 1713 treaty.

“We’re looking at which way this affects our sovereignty, in as far as it took place in waters whose sovereignty we understand to belong to Spain,” Mr. Borrell said, according to the Europa Press news agency and other news reports.

A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Sayed Abbas Mousavi, said in a post on Twitter, that Britain’s ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, had been summoned to the Iranian Embassy over the seizure of the vessel.

The British Foreign Office had no immediate response on Thursday afternoon. The United States National Security Council also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Samir Madani, a co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, which follows maritime traffic using satellite data, said the ship was anchored near the Iranian oil terminal at Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf in mid-April. Later, he said, it sat deep in the water, indicating that it was carrying oil from Iran.

The tanker, which exceeds the size limits for the Suez Canal, sailed around Africa to reach the Mediterranean, ending up in Gibraltar for unexplained reasons.

“For some odd reason they decided to go to Gibraltar,” Mr. Madani said.

Various shipping websites list the tanker as a 300,000-ton vessel more than 1,000 feet long, built in the 1990s and flying the flag of Panama.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-gibraltar-syria-iran.html

2019-07-04 14:26:15Z
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Alek Sigley: Why Sweden helped free Australian student in N Korea - BBC News

When Australian student Alek Sigley went missing in North Korea last week, Canberra turned to a country more than 15,000km (9,320 miles) away for help.

The Scandinavian nation of Sweden has a long history of acting as diplomatic intermediary in the isolated dictatorship - a so-called "protecting power" for several Western nations.

On Thursday, it emerged that negotiations to free the 29-year-old had been successful. It's still unclear why he was detained.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked Sweden for its help, expressing his "deepest gratitude to the Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance."

Australia, like most Western nations, doesn't have its own embassy in the closed-off country. But Sweden does and has for nearly 50 years.

In fact, it became first Western country to establish formal diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1973. The UK, in comparison, first sent an ambassador to North Korea only in 2002.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Negotiating the release of Mr Sigley - who studies Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang - is not the first time Sweden has helped other countries with tricky diplomatic affairs.

It has in the past represented British interests in Iran when relations with Tehran have broken down, including in 1989 when Iran's supreme leader issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the novelist Salman Rushdie.

A history of neutrality

Stockholm's special role is based on a long tradition of neutrality. This dates back to the early 19th Century, when Sweden took the position that it was best to be free of military alliances in peacetime so it could stay neutral if war broke out.

That meant that during the Cold War between the communist eastern and capitalist western blocs, Sweden tried to take a neutral middle position.

It similarly took a neutral position on the Korean peninsula. At the end of the Korean War in 1953, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission - comprised of Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Czechoslovakia - was set up to oversee the armistice that ended the Korean war.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, North Korea expelled the Polish and Czechoslovakian observers in the 1990s.

"[But] the Swiss and Swedes [were] still there. This [caused] both countries to take a greater role in Korea than otherwise," Fyodor Tertitskiy, an expert on North Korea, told the BBC.

Prisoner releases

Sweden's role as an intermediary with Pyongyang has included handling consular affairs for the United States.

"Sweden has agreed with the US to represent the consular interest of [its] nationals in the DPRK," former deputy head of mission at the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang Martina Aberg Somogyi told specialist North Korea site NK News last year.

"If it comes to our attention that a US national is in need of support we will offer this to the best of our ability and work as hard we can to resolve that situation."

Washington - like Canberra - has no North Korean embassy or consulate and Sweden acts as what is known in diplomatic parlance as a "protecting power".

Ahead of the landmark Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in 2018, North Korea's foreign minister even flew to Sweden for talks.

Sweden has also often helped with the release of US citizens held by the North.

The most high-profile recent case was that of US student Otto Warmbier, who was jailed in North Korea in 2016 after being accused of stealing a propaganda sign during an organised tour.

He spent 17 months in detention, and later died days after he was returned to the US in a coma.

Ms Somogyi said helping foreign citizens had "definitely been some of the most challenging work that me and my colleagues have engaged in on a professional but also personal level".

Diplomatic life in Pyongyang

Sweden's role in North Korea is not limited to helping Westerners in distress. It also performs other functions, such as following up on Swedish humanitarian assistance to North Korea and issuing visas to North Korean residents travelling to Europe's Schengen area.

There are currently two Swedish diplomats based full-time in Pyongyang.

But those who have worked in the embassy say that there is still a lack of mutual understanding between North Koreans and Swedes.

"New initiatives and ideas are always met with deep suspicion," Swedish diplomat August Borg told NK News in 2015.

"Even if we just want to visit a project that Sweden is financing, preparations need to be made a long time ahead."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48864807

2019-07-04 12:12:10Z
52780326175753

Alek Sigley: Why Sweden helped free Australian student in N Korea - BBC News

When Australian student Alek Sigley went missing in North Korea last week, Canberra turned to a country more than 15,000km (9,320 miles) away for help.

The Scandinavian nation of Sweden has a long history of acting as diplomatic intermediary in the isolated dictatorship - a so-called "protecting power" for several Western nations.

On Thursday, it emerged that negotiations to free the 29-year-old had been successful. It's still unclear why he was detained.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked Sweden for its help, expressing his "deepest gratitude to the Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance."

Australia, like most Western nations, doesn't have its own embassy in the closed-off country. But Sweden does and has for nearly 50 years.

In fact, it became first Western country to establish formal diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1973. The UK, in comparison, first sent an ambassador to North Korea only in 2002.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Negotiating the release of Mr Sigley - who studies Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang - is not the first time Sweden has helped other countries with tricky diplomatic affairs.

It has in the past represented British interests in Iran when relations with Tehran have broken down, including in 1989 when Iran's supreme leader issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the novelist Salman Rushdie.

A history of neutrality

Stockholm's special role is based on a long tradition of neutrality. This dates back to the early 19th Century, when Sweden took the position that it was best to be free of military alliances in peacetime so it could stay neutral if war broke out.

That meant that during the Cold War between the communist eastern and capitalist western blocs, Sweden tried to take a neutral middle position.

It similarly took a neutral position on the Korean peninsula. At the end of the Korean War in 1953, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission - comprised of Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Czechoslovakia - was set up to oversee the armistice that ended the Korean war.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, North Korea expelled the Polish and Czechoslovakian observers in the 1990s.

"[But] the Swiss and Swedes [were] still there. This [caused] both countries to take a greater role in Korea than otherwise," Fyodor Tertitskiy, an expert on North Korea, told the BBC.

Prisoner releases

Sweden's role as an intermediary with Pyongyang has included handling consular affairs for the United States.

"Sweden has agreed with the US to represent the consular interest of [its] nationals in the DPRK," former deputy head of mission at the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang Martina Aberg Somogyi told specialist North Korea site NK News last year.

"If it comes to our attention that a US national is in need of support we will offer this to the best of our ability and work as hard we can to resolve that situation."

Washington - like Canberra - has no North Korean embassy or consulate and Sweden acts as what is known in diplomatic parlance as a "protecting power".

Ahead of the landmark Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in 2018, North Korea's foreign minister even flew to Sweden for talks.

Sweden has also often helped with the release of US citizens held by the North.

The most high-profile recent case was that of US student Otto Warmbier, who was jailed in North Korea in 2016 after being accused of stealing a propaganda sign during an organised tour.

He spent 17 months in detention, and later died days after he was returned to the US in a coma.

Ms Somogyi said helping foreign citizens had "definitely been some of the most challenging work that me and my colleagues have engaged in on a professional but also personal level".

Diplomatic life in Pyongyang

Sweden's role in North Korea is not limited to helping Westerners in distress. It also performs other functions, such as following up on Swedish humanitarian assistance to North Korea and issuing visas to North Korean residents travelling to Europe's Schengen area.

There are currently two Swedish diplomats based full-time in Pyongyang.

But those who have worked in the embassy say that there is still a lack of mutual understanding between North Koreans and Swedes.

"New initiatives and ideas are always met with deep suspicion," Swedish diplomat August Borg told NK News in 2015.

"Even if we just want to visit a project that Sweden is financing, preparations need to be made a long time ahead."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48864807

2019-07-04 11:38:37Z
52780326175753

Oil supertanker bound for Syria held in Gibraltar by UK Marines - Aljazeera.com

British Royal Marines and officials in Gibraltar have stopped a supertanker suspected of carrying crude oil to Syria, in breach of European Union sanctions, the government of Gibraltar said.

The Grace 1 vessel was halted early on Thursday by Gibraltar police and customs agencies, aided by a detachment of British Royal Marines.

In a statement, the Gibraltar government said it had reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Banyas Refinery in Syria.

"That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said. EU sanctions against the government of Syria took effect in May 2011.

"With my consent, our port and law enforcement agencies sought the assistance of the Royal Marines in carrying out this operation."

The government published regulations on Wednesday to enforce the sanctions against the tanker and its cargo.

Acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said Gibraltar detained the supertanker after a request by the United States to Britain.

Spain was looking into the seizure of the ship, and how it may affect Spanish sovereignty as it appears to have happened in Spanish waters, Borrell said. Spain does not recognise the waters around Gibraltar as British.

Refinitiv Eikon mapping indicates the ship sailed from Iran, and if the cargo is confirmed to be Iranian crude, its attempted delivery to Syria could also be a violation of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

The mapping data shows the ship has sailed a longer route around the southern tip of Africa instead of via Egypt's Suez Canal.

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The Grace 1 was documented as loading fuel oil in Iraq in December, although the Iraqi port did not list it as being in port and its tracking system was switched off. The tanker reappeared near Iran's port of Bandar Assaluyeh fully loaded.

Shipping data shows the ship is a 300,000-tonne Panamanian-flagged tanker managed by Singapore-based IShips Management Pte Ltd.

The EU has imposed sanctions on 277 Syrian officials including government ministers over their role in the "violent repression" of civilians.

It has frozen the assets of some 72 entities and introduced an embargo on Syrian oil, investment restrictions and a freeze on Syrian central bank assets within the EU.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/oil-supertanker-bound-syria-held-gibraltar-uk-marines-190704070246306.html

2019-07-04 11:25:00Z
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Hong Kong protests: Jeremy Hunt warns China against 'repression' - BBC News

The UK foreign secretary has continued to warn China not to "repress" violent protesters in Hong Kong.

A group of activists occupied Hong Kong's parliament on Monday over a controversial extradition bill.

Jeremy Hunt told the BBC he "condemned all violence" but said the Chinese government should listen to the "root causes" of protesters' concerns.

It comes after China warned the UK not to "interfere in its domestic affairs" and labelled the UK "hypocritical".

Mr Hunt repeated his warning that China would face serious consequences if it failed to honour Hong Kong's high level of autonomy from Beijing.

"The heart of people's concerns has been that very precious thing that Hong Kong has had, which is an independent judicial system," Mr Hunt told Radio 4's Today programme.

"The United Kingdom view this situation very, very seriously," he added.

• The background you need on the Hong Kong protests
• Did Hong Kong violence sway public opinion?

China's ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office on Wednesday following "unacceptable and inaccurate" remarks.

Liu Xiaoming said relations between China and the UK had been "damaged" by comments by Mr Hunt and others backing the demonstrators' actions.

He said those who illegally occupied the Legislative Council building and raised the colonial-era British flag should be "condemned as law breakers".

He added that it was "hypocritical" of UK politicians to criticise the lack of democracy and civil rights in Hong Kong when, under British rule, there had been no elections nor right to protest.

'Very serious'

In response to accusations he had sided with the protesters, Mr Hunt said: "I was not supporting the violence, what I was saying is the way to deal with that violence is not by repression."

"It is by understanding the root causes of the concerns of the demonstrators, that freedoms that they have had for their whole life could be about to be undermined by this new extradition law," he added.

Critics have said the extradition bill could be used to send political dissidents from Hong Kong to the mainland.

A think tank analyst branded the diplomatic row as a "very serious flaring up of tensions between Beijing and London".

Victor Gao, vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing, called Monday's occupation of parliament "anarchism" adding "this is to be protested and to be condemned by any government leader with any level of conscience".

Mr Gao urged the UK to condemn the violence. He said the "crux of the matter" was "the UK no longer has a say in [how] Hong Kong should be run and managed".

A 1984 treaty between the UK and China paved the way for sovereignty over the territory to pass back to Beijing.

The Joint Declaration set out how the rights of Hong Kong citizens should be protected in the territory's Basic Law under Chinese rule.

Hong Kong has, since 1997, been run by China under an arrangement guaranteeing it a level of economic autonomy and personal freedoms not permitted on the mainland.

Mr Hunt said: "It is very important that the 'one country, two systems' approach is honoured."

The foreign secretary would not detail what consequences China might face if it did not honour the treaty, but said the UK had "always defended the values we believe in".

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2019-07-04 07:55:15Z
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Diplomatic spat between UK and China after Beijing slams London's 'colonial' attitude to Hong Kong - CNN

Beijing has hit out at the UK over accusations of "interference" in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, after British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt expressed support for Hong Kong protesters and said London would stand by the city in preserving its limited democratic freedoms.

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have taken to the streets in recent weeks over a proposed extradition bill with China critics fear would be used to go after political dissidents. On Monday, student protesters stormed and briefly occupied the city's legislature, causing widespread damage to the building and its contents before retreating in the face of a large police clearance operation.

Referencing the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 which governs the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, Hunt said on Tuesday that "there will be serious consequences if that internationally binding legal agreement were not to be honored."

"The UK signed an internationally binding legal agreement in 1984 that enshrines the 'one country, two systems rule,' enshrines the basic freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and we stand four square behind that agreement, four square behind the people of Hong Kong," added Hunt, who is campaigning to be the next British Prime Minister.

His comments were greeted by outrage in Beijing, which has previously suggested the treaty -- which established a guarantor and observer status for the UK over its former colony -- is no longer applicable.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Wednesday accused Hunt of "fantasizing in the faded glory of British colonialism and obsessed with the bad habit of criticizing and lecturing on other countries' affairs condescendingly."

China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, followed up with his own criticism, blasting London for its "interference" in Hong Kong and saying the UK-China relationship "has been damaged" because of it.

"I think it's totally wrong for Jeremy Hunt to talk about the freedom (of Hong Kong protesters) ... this is not a matter about freedom it's a matter about breaking laws in Hong Kong," Liu said. "We all remember what Hong Kong was 22 years ago under British rule, there was no freedom (or) democracy."

The UK did not fully democratize Hong Kong during over a century and a half of colonial occupation, only introducing the limited form of democracy that the city enjoys today in the decade leading up to the 1997 handover. Chris Patten, the last colonial governor, did attempt to introduce greater democracy and political freedoms, against London and Beijing's wishes, but his reforms were rolled back when China assumed control of the city.

Liu, who has since been summoned to meet with the UK Foreign Ministry, called on London to "reflect" and "refrain from further damaging the relationship" and "refrain from interfering in Hong Kong internal affairs and Chinese internal affairs."

Responding to his comments on Twitter, Hunt said that "good relations between countries are based on mutual respect and honoring the legally binding agreements between them."

CNN's Milena Veselinovic and Sarah Deane contributed reporting.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/04/asia/china-uk-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-07-04 05:28:00Z
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