Changing its destination from Kalamata, Greece, the Iranian super oil tanker is now destined to Turkey, according to ship tracking data.
The tanker’s estimated time of arrival in Mersin is reportedly noon on Aug. 31.
The tanker was impounded off Gibaltrar in July and released over a month later when local authorities rejected a US bid to detain the ship.
Greek Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis said on August 20 that Greek authorities have not received any formal request from the the tanker to dock at the port of Kalamata.
Despite all US pressures and requests, Gibraltar government eventually ordered the release of the illegally-detained tanker last Sunday .
Iran’s Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad wrote on Twitter that the act of having the Iranian oil tanker renamed is in no relation with skirting the US sanctions, since the tanker is not sanctioned and sails under the aegis of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
Britain’s naval forces unlawfully seized the vessel and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of oil in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4 under the pretext that the supertanker had been suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of the European Union’s unilateral sanctions against the Arab country.
Tehran rejected London’s claim that the tanker was heading to Syria, slamming the seizure as “piracy.”
