On July 4, 2019 the British naval forces in Gibraltar unlawfully seized Iran’s Adrian Darya (then known as Grace 1) supertanker, claiming that it had been carrying crude to Syria in violation of the European Union’s unilateral sanctions against the Arab country.
Tehran quickly rejected the claims stating: “The Islamic Republic of Iran has sold the oil of this ship and now the owner and purchaser of this oil will decide the destination of the cargo” and “we are not informed of its final destination.”