After visits of two high-ranking regional officials, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi, for convincing Iran to release British oil tanker which has been seized by the IRGC, and Iran rejected exchange of two confiscated oil tankers with the new British government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on Wednesday Gibraltarian government gave in to Iran’s resistance and after getting nod from UK, its chief minister released a statement on releasing Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 , and it claimed Iran has promised that it would not sell oil to the sanctioned entities and it was a swingeing lie and it actually showed the retreat and surrender of UK against Iran.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

The territory’s chief minister said he had agreed to let the vessel go after he had received a written assurance from Iran that the final destination of the tanker Grace 1 “would not be an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions.” That meant there were “no longer any reasonable grounds for the continued legal detention”, he added. The minister acknowledged that the U.S. Department of Justice had indicated it was minded to challenge the decision and said mutual legal assistance authorities would make “an objective, legal determination of that request”.

It has been a winning challenge for Iran. Before Gibraltarian government decisions, most analyses assumptions about the fate of the tanker were mostly focused on three axes: First, Iran should release British oil tanker and in return UK releases Iranian oil tanker; Second, Iran and UK release both seized oil tankers simultaneously, and third, UK should release Iranian oil tanker and in return Iran releases British oil tanker.

Regarding the first assumption, this issue had been raised that this idea is not acceptable at all and it does not conform to any international laws because British government had seized the Iranian oil tanker without having any legal proof and it took action only to please the U.S. and as a retaliatory move for shooting down of the U.S. drone. This is the point that major British media and officials have confessed and they have criticized British government for following the U.S. and proxy confrontation, while the British oil tanker has been seized by Iran because of violating international marine laws. So it was Iran’s right to seize the British oil tanker because of violating the laws. So if Iran releases the tanker first, it will be interpreted as a tribute to a culprit and it was at contradiction with Iran’s legal and international reputation.

On the second assumption and analysis, one can assure that it would not be accepted, and in case Iran accepted it, it would mean that Iran, like UK, has committed illegal act and both sides had to retreat because of their offences. In this condition, British piracy and its big crime might be overshadowed and ignored.

But regarding the third assumption, UK should first release Iranian oil tanker which close to desirable which shows Iran’s strength and the Old Fox’s (Old Fox is a term used by Iranians to describe Britain) retreat, it is necessary that UK also apologizes officially and guarantees that it would never repeat piracy any longer . This approach is our legal and recognized right and our officials in the foreign policy system should not let this unprecedented show of power of Iran on seizure of violating British oil tanker be delisted from Islamic Iran’s honors because authoritative act of Iran will be a turning point in changing regional power equation in favor of Islamic Iran and it will show the world that our enemies are petty and mean elements that they have only big shelters.

Gibraltarian Chief Minister’s statement on Wednesday has endorsed the third assumption in analyses, and under pretext of legal study and review and verdict of the court announced the release of the oil tanker, and to save face of UK, he told a swingeing lie that Iran has promised not to sell oil to the sanctioned entities.

Of course, the Old Fox has enough lies in hands to justify its act to the world public opinion and it has to resort to such propagations. It has been and is Iran’s authority that it should to resist by sticking to the legal logic in order to dictate its right. So in this current condition and in order to thank God for such a blessing we fall down in prostration of gratitude because once again the world has witnessed Iran’s resistance doctrine and we once again made UK accept our conditions which has proved our legitimacy since the beginning.

By: Hamid Reza Naghashian