All Eyes are on Iranian Tanker Found Anchored off Syrian Coast

An Iranian supertanker that was released in mid-August after being detained over a month earlier off Gibraltar on suspicion of trying to contravene European Union sanctions by delivering crude oil to Syria, has been spotted anchored off the Syrian coast. The Adrian Darya 1 was shown in a satellite photo released on Saturday by a private US space-tech firm after having “gone dark” last week following a series of zigs and zags in the eastern Mediterranean. The US has threatened to sanction any company or government that accepts its cargo, and the ship apparently has been rebuffed by both Greece and Turkey. But Iran – which changed the vessel’s name after it was released by Gibraltar – also says it has sold the crude to an unnamed third party, and analysts say there might be attempts to offload the crude in a ship-to-ship transfer.