Reuters, Geneva :
Iran has deployed a naval destroyer with long-range cruise missile systems to the Gulf of Aden to provide security for Iranian ships travelling through the region, state-run Press TV reported on Monday.
The ship will be accompanied by a logistical vessel and a helicopter carrier, Press TV reported. The channel described it as Iran’s most advanced destroyer.
An Iranian tanker at the center of a confrontation between Washington and Tehran is no longer recorded as heading for Turkey, Refinitiv Eikon shipping data showed on Monday, having switched to a Turkish destination at the weekend.
The vessel, fully laden with oil, had previously been heading to the port of Kalamata in southern Greece but Greece had said it would not offer any facilities to the tanker.
Shipping data on Saturday had then indicated the vessel was to dock at the southern Turkish port of Mersin on August 31.
On Monday, Refinitiv Eikon data did not specify any destination for the Adrian Darya. Its location is currently south of mainland Greece, west of the island of Crete.
The Adrian Darya, formerly called Grace 1, was released in mid-August from detention off Gibraltar after a five-week standoff over whether it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.
The United States, which says the tanker is controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, deemed a terrorist group by Washington, has told countries in the region not to assist it.
An Iranian government spokesman said that the oil aboard the Adrian Darya 1 tanker has been sold to an unnamed buyer.
Ali Rabiei made the announcement at news conference on Monday in Tehran. He says the ship’s buyer will decide on the tanker’s ultimate destination.
The Adrian Darya, previously known as the Grace 1, was held for weeks off Gibraltar after being seized by authorities there on suspicion of violating EU sanctions on Syria.
The US has a warrant in federal court to seize the ship and has been warning nations not to accept it.
The ship had put its destination as Turkey, but later removed it. It’s still in the Mediterranean Sea heading east.
Meanwhile,efforts to stop Iran from “funding terror, destabilizing the globe, and breaking international sanctions” are underway, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a tweet on Monday.
Bolton also urged authorities to prevent the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1, currently heading to Turkey, from off-loading in port or at sea.
The vessel, previously named Grace 1, was seized in Gibraltar in July on suspicion that it was carrying oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran, in violation of European Union sanctions.
