Blacklisted Iranian tanker arrives at Syrian port Tartus

BEIRUT - The Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, which was blacklisted by Washington on Friday, has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus, US national security advisor John Bolton said in a tweet late Friday with a satellite image he said showed the ship anchored two nautical miles off Tartus.

The TankerTrackers site also shows the Adrian Darya 1 near Tartus.

One photograph of the tanker, which went dark off Syria earlier in the week, was taken by Maxar Technologies Inc. - a US space technology company. Maxar's supplied image shows the tanker very close to Tartus on Sept. 6.

The ship appeared to have turned off its transponder in the Mediterranean west of Syria, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed on Tuesday.

The tanker, which is loaded with Iranian crude oil, sent its last signal giving its position between Cyprus and Syria sailing north at 15:53 GMT on Monday, the data showed.

The vessel, formerly named Grace 1, was detained by British Royal Marine commandos off Gibraltar on July 4 as it was suspected to be en route to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.

Two weeks later, Iran in retaliation seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz leading into the Gulf.

Gibraltar released the Iranian vessel on Aug. 18 over US protests, after receiving formal written assurances from Tehran that the ship would not be heading to countries under EU sanctions.

Tehran later denied it had made any promises about the destination of the ship, which had been elusive since leaving Gibraltar.

There was no confirmation that the ship, carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil worth around $140 million, was unloading its cargo, but media reports said Friday that the tanker had delivered oil to Syria, with one source quoted saying 55 percent of its cargo was offloaded Thursday night.

Shipping sources said the tanker would likely try to conduct a ship-to-ship transfer with another vessel for part of its cargo after Iran said a sale had been concluded.

Washington has warned any state against assisting the ship, saying it would consider that support for a terrorist organisation, namely, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Tensions between arch-enemies Iran and the US have soared since May last year when President Donald Trump pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and major powers, and began reimposing sanctions that have crippled its economy.

European governments have declined to follow the Trump administration's tough line against Tehran, instead seeking to salvage the nuclear deal by finding a mechanism to get round US sanctions.

But both the EU and the US have adopted a raft of sanctions against Syria, including an oil embargo.