We are not going to hear about THIS from an English-speaking media outlet!
Spain
to complain after Gibraltar seizes Iranian tanker in disputed waters
Madrid
holds US tipped off London about the ship, which was bound for Syria
in breach of EU sanctions
5
July, 2019
Spain
and the UK are caught up in a new row over the waters near Gibraltar,
a disputed British overseas territory located at the southern tip of
the Iberian peninsula.
An
Iranian oil tanker on its way to Syria was stopped on Thursday by
Gibraltarian authorities with help from British forces in waters that
Spain considers to be its own.
We
are analyzing the circumstances and seeing how they affect our
sovereignty
The
move prevented the supertanker Grace 1 from delivering Iranian crude
oil to Syria in breach of the European Union’s sanctions on the
regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
Gibraltarian
authorities issued a release detailing the operation, which was
apparently triggered by intelligence information that the US relayed
to Britain, implying that the tanker was in British territorial
waters.
Madrid
will formally complain to London over what it considers to be an
incursion into Spanish waters, said a source at the Foreign Ministry.
Spain does not recognize any Gibraltarian territorial waters, based
on the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht by which Spain ceded the territory
during the War of Spanish Succession.
“We
are analyzing the circumstances and seeing how they affect our
sovereignty,” said Josep Borrell, the acting Spanish foreign
minister and the EU’s official nominee to be the next High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
According
to the official version of events, London alerted Madrid about the
presence of the supertanker and warned that “there was going to be
an intervention by British forces to detain it in the port of
Gibraltar.”
But
the seizure did not take place in the port, which is part of
Gibraltar’s territory, but further out in waters that Spain
considers its own. In spite of it, Madrid made no attempt at halting
the boarding operation.
“Spain
did not want to interfere because this was about upholding EU
sanctions,” said a ministry source. A Civil Guard patrol boat was
sent out to monitor the operation.
British
diplomatic sources told EL PAÍS that they are convinced Madrid and
London are working towards the same goal of ensuring that EU
sanctions against Syria are respected.
“It
was done in observance of international law, and we have no doubt
whatsoever that the government of Spain also supports the sanctions
regime, even though we admit that both governments still have a
pending dispute over the territory of Gibraltar.”
While
Gibraltarian authorities did not mention a US intelligence tip-off,
Spain believes this is what triggered the operation. Acting minister
Borrell said that Washington had alerted London about the
supertanker’s presence in European waters, rather than informing
Spain. The foreign ministry did not say whether it will also complain
to Washington over the matter.
The
waters around Gibraltar have for years been the subject of
intermittent disputes involving fishing vessels and patrol boats.
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