Richard de la Rosa, managing director of Astralship, the vessel's shipping agent, told AFP the ship was preparing for departure."They're performing crew changes. She needs some reprovisioning," he said, adding new Indian and Ukrainian crew members were due to arrive on Sunday, August 18.Gibraltar seized the ship on July 4 on suspicion it was transporting oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions, triggering a sharp deterioration in relations between Tehran and London.
On Thursday, Gibraltar's Supreme Court ordered the tanker released after the British overseas territory said it had received assurances from Iran that the Grace 1 would not head to any country subject to EU sanctions. It says the vessel and all the oil aboard are subject to forfeiture based on violations of US sanctions.The US State Department has also threatened to issue a visa ban on anyone working on the ship.The US move comes after it tried – and failed – to block the tanker's release on Thursday, August 15.
The US – citing Tehran's threat to American allies – expanded its military presence in the region with a new aircraft carrier task force, missile batteries and strategic bombers.