An Iranian vessel now cannot be tracked using Marine Traffic and Vessel Radar apps.
An Iranian oil tanker, Adrian Darya 1 that’s been blacklisted and wanted by the U.S. turned off its tracker on Monday just outside the coast of Lebanon and Syria.
Adrian Darya carries around 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated $130 million. It turned off its Automatic Identification System (AIS) around noon on Monday, according to MarineTraffic.com, a ship-tracking website.
A blacklisted Iranian vessel was heading north, roughly 45 nautical miles from Syria, when it vanished, following a pattern of Iranian oil tankers turning off their AIS once they reach near Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to hide where they deliver their cargo amid U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s economy.
Previously, Iranian officials haven’t revealed who bought the Adrian Darya’s oil, only that it has been sold.
Later, U.S. officials warned countries not to assist the Adrian Darya 1 as it was “blocked property” and “anyone providing support” to the tanker risked being sanctioned, claiming it had “reliable information” the ship is transporting oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions, again.
The tension between the US and Iran escalated when previously known as Grace 1, the tanker Adrian Darya 1 was seized by British officials in Gibraltar, accompanied by British Royal Marines, believed to have been carrying oil to Syria, which is, according to authorities is a violation of European Union sanctions on Syria.
After 6 weeks of detention, the Gibraltar court decided to release the tanker after Iran’s written guarantee that the Iranian vessel would not be sailing to countries on the European Union sanctions list, after departing from the port.
The release orders of Iranian Vessel were issued, despite Washington’s attempt to extend the detention period of the vessel on the basis of having its links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it has declared a terrorist organization.
