Press release

Foreign Secretary condemns Iran over the Adrian Darya 1 oil tanker

The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has condemned Iran for breaching assurances over the Adrian Darya 1 oil tanker.

Iran repeatedly gave assurances to the Government of Gibraltar that the Grace 1/Adrian Darya 1 would not deliver oil to any EU-sanctioned entity in Syria or elsewhere.

It is now clear that Iran has breached these assurances and that the oil has been transferred to Syria and Assad’s murderous regime.

The Foreign Secretary has today summoned the Iranian Ambassador to condemn Iran’s actions.

Iran’s actions represent an unacceptable violation of international norms and the UK will raise the issue at the United Nations later this month.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

Iran has shown complete disregard for its own assurances over Adrian Darya 1.

This sale of oil to Assad’s brutal regime is part of a pattern of behaviour by the Government of Iran designed to disrupt regional security. This includes illegally supplying weapons to Houthi insurgents in Yemen, support for Hezbollah terrorists and most recently its attempts to hijack commercial ships passing through the Gulf.

We want Iran to come in from the cold but the only way to do that is to keep its word and comply with the rules based international system.

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Published 10 September 2019