Released Iranian Oil Tanker Switches Direction, Heads for Turkey

An Iranian oil tanker at the center of a dispute between Washington and Tehran has changed its intended destination from Greece to a port in southern Turkey.

The ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com showed the tanker carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil worth some $130 million (€115 million) is now south of Sicily and has updated its listed destination as the port of Mersin in southern Turkey.

An Iranian tanker involved in a confrontation between Washington and Tehran has switched destinations and is heading to Turkey instead of southern Greece, data from real-time ship tracking website MarineTraffic showed on Saturday.

The two vessels became pawns in a bigger game, feeding into wider hostilities since the United States past year pulled out of an worldwide agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme, and reimposed economic sanctions. It was impounded off Gibraltar in July and released last Sunday after local authorities rejected a legal attempt by the U.S.to detain it. Adrian Darya is now sailing along the southern coast of Sicily.

Iranian state media and officials did not immediately acknowledge the new reported destination of the Adrian Darya, which carries 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil worth some US$130 million (S$180 million).

Experts said mariners can input any destination into the Automatic Identification System, so Turkey may not be the vessel's true destination.

The tanker, which previously flew the flag of Panama and went under the name Grace 1, is estimated to arrive in Mersin at noon on August 31.

The tanker beforehand become as soon as held in detention at Gibraltar over suspicions that it become as soon as smuggling oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions on the nation, essentially based entirely on Reuters. Analysts suggested that the release of the Adrian Darya would see the Stena Impero let go, but that has yet to happen. However, that would require another nation to acknowledge the writ.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has added the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and its director, Mark Dubowitz, to the sanctions list of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The U.S.re-imposed sanctions on Iran after it pulled out of the 2015 nuclear agreement over concerns about Iran's missile program and regional influence. "FDD considers its inclusion on any list put out by the regime as a badge of honor and looks forward to the day when Americans and others can visit a free and democratic Iran". Later, Dubowitz began describing the move as a "threat", citing one English-language report by the semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr that said the "taking (of) any actions by the judicial and security apparatuses against the FDD and their Iranian and non-Iranian accomplices will be considered legitimate".

Iran shot down a USA military surveillance drone in the Gulf with a surface-to-air missile in June, almost setting off a conflict with the United States.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani last Thursday debuted an Iran-made air-defence missile system, the Bavar-373.