While Gibraltar agreed that Iran’s tanker the Grace 1 was free to leave
on Thursday, as of Friday it still hasn’t headed out, with concerns
about their safety in doing so in the face of US efforts.
On Friday, a US District Court judge issued a warrant to seize the Grace 1, as part of an asset forfeiture case against Iran, authorizing US Marshals to seize the tanker and all of the oil aboard.
Gibraltar already rejected US efforts to try to seize the ship legally.
The new warrant accuses the ship of trying to “unlawfully access the US
financial system” by planning to sell the oil.
The Grace 1 needs a new captain as well, as the current captain says he
doesn’t want to command the ship anymore. It’s unclear if this is
because the US is very publicly out to get the ship, or if two months of
seizure in Gibraltar has just convinced him it’s not worth the hassle.
The US threatened the crew members with sanction including denial of future visas. The captain may well be convinced his personal future is at stake, since a captain travels the world constantly.
Does the judge not have a name, race or religion. Inquiring minds want to know…
Don’t know about name, race or origin but (s)he has for sure dual citizenship, one of them being from a certain entity whose members have been certified by “god” to be the chosen people, and therefore are entitled to expand their “Lebensraum” by ethnically cleansing the native population.
Hope that helps.
“For sure” indicates something other than a wild guess. If you don’t know anything else about the judge, how could you possibly know that?
Although the reality is somewhere between “wild guess” and for sure, logically it is closer to for sure than wild guess. Why? Because the entire illegal Iran affair is driven by our zionist masters.
“Zionist” and “dual citizen” aren’t remotely the same thing.
You are right – Zionists and dual citizens aren’t remotely the same thing. But that is also utterly irrelevant. What is relevant is that a surprisingly disproportionate number of Americans with a dual citizenship of that despicable, apartheid entity are also Zionists.
I’ve been unable to find any reliable source for how many dual US-Israeli citizens there are so as to know whether that number is “surprisingly disproportionate.”
This Iranian tanker incident, the entire conflict with Iran, as well as our illegal wars and meddling in the Middle East are being done on behalf of our Zionist overlords. Compared to their number in the US population, the US zionists (many but not all of whom have dual citizenship) have a disproportionately high influence on our political and media institutions.
The discussion has descended to the level of arguing about trees in order to ignore the forest. I have neither the time nor the inclination for this. Lebe wohl…..
Don’t get pissy just because you’re making stuff up and then get called on it.
“the US zionists (many but not all of whom have dual citizenship)”
“The discussion has descended to the level of arguing about trees in order to ignore the forest.”
Well, yes — because you dragged it down there.
If someone is loyal to a foreign government, why on earth would it matter whether they’re loyal to that foreign government because there’s a piece of paper somewhere calling them a “citizen” or for some other reason?
So far as I can tell, you have no idea whatsoever how many “dual citizens” there are, even if it DID matter.
But are more than remotely likely to find against Iran and for the place that has been killing its native children for demonstrating against policy they find unfair, exclusionary or unjust plus treating such behavior as normal & rational
You got my drift 🙂
Only in an insane world can one country decide that another country is no longer allowed to function for having the audacity of following a nuke deal that is the equivalent to the NPT on steroids. What’s worse is that next year this same country will re-elect the man who made it all possible. MAGA
The “exceptional” nation only follows the law of the jungle, wars.
And they don’t even bother trying to argue how Iran selling oil to anyone else outside the US involves US banks? I’m sure Iran is perfectly willing and enthusiastic to conduct its trade without involving the US in any way shape or form. And that’s the crux of the concern for US officials: resources exist which are not subject to US domination, so they are doing every trick possible to change that.
Kind of like Syria not being allowed to buy oil. Unquestioned.
If Russia and China had a real set of Ballz they would escort this ship to it’s destination with warships from their Navy’s. The actions of the USA, in this instance is a dagger pointed at the heart of all nations, not just Iran. And,,who the hell does this judge think he is?? I mean,,WTF!
both russian and china have made it clear they have red lines, and that they have no real interest in confronting the united states directly for anything else.
seizing a random tanker is a feet achievable by a dozen starving somalies, but it will have large impact on trust in the united states what ever is left.
I’m confused, more so than usual, which federal judicial district is Gibraltar in?
The Department of Total Spectrum Dominance….
Let’s see, violating the JCPOA, illegal sanctions, piracy… Guess I know who the rogue nation is here and it sure isn’t Iran. Maybe the USA deserves sanctions and a blockade until we come to our senses and start acting like a normal nation. If we continue going out of our way to violate the rule of law we deserve everything that comes our way.
I am waiting for the day when the other world powers, and little ones as well, finally sanction the ass out of the US
I’m thinking the New Silk Road initiative that’s coming into being in Eurasia will be the end of the petrodollar and the end of US-imposed sanctions. It can’t happen soon enough.
Americans think that because the sun rises over New York and sets over San Francisco that’s the whole world and they own it so they can do what they like with it.
The question obviously is: Who’s going to enforce that warrant? It’s unlikely Gibralter is going to, based on their recent actions. It’s possible their court might be persuaded to honor a foreign warrant, but their court already dropped the case and handed it over to some other department, whereupon Gibralter said the ship was free to leave.
The obvious answer is: The US Navy. .So I would expect a US Navy ship to turn up shortly if the Grace leaves port and seize it.
This is probably why the ship’s captain wants to leave – he’s already figured out this ship is doomed to be seized by someone and he’s not interested in being in someone else’s jail.
And a US Navy seizure means again establishing the precedent of the US Navy seizing Iranian ships pursuant to an eventual effort to establish a naval blockade of Iran directly in the Persian Gulf.
In other words, starting a war while blaming Iran for starting it. Something Trump is obviously all in favor of, otherwise he would call a halt to this nonsense.
People who say, “Well, he hasn’t started the war yet, so he’s not in favor of it” are fools. The argument is precisely backward. If he really doesn’t want war, then cut the nonsense and negotiate. The other notion that he just wants Iran’s “capitulation” is not supported by the behavior of his administration.
These notions are just the fantasies of people who are still drinking the Trump Kool-Aid, just like the Obama fanatics drank his Kool-Aid even while he ruined four countries (Libya, Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen) during his administration.
“Make America Great Again” is just another BS slogan like “Change You Can Believe In.” Only idiots believe this crap.
Unfortunately there are a LOT of Idiots in America especially in Congress and the Senate.
The Jason Ditz article misrepresents, gravely, the Warrant received by the United States District Court of the District of Columbia.
The warrant does NOT command, order, or even authorize seizure of the ship or the oil it carries.
Rather, the proposed Warrant (and it is, yet, merely a proposed Warrant) provides only that “THE UNITED STATES MARSHAL’S SERVICE AND/OR [sic] ANY OTHER DULY AUTHORIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER” serve the ship and all interested parties a notice that, according to the party (the United States government) seeking the seizure “the defendant property is subject to seizure and forfeiture to the United States pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(6).”
The proposed Warrant ends thus:
“YOU ARE FURTHER COMMANDED to provide notice of this action to all persons thought to have an interest in or claim against the defendant property by serving upon such persons a copy of this warrant and the Verified Complaint In Rem, in a manner consistent with the principles of service of process of an action in rem under the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions. and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
“YOU ARE FURTHER COMMANDED, promptly after execution of this process, to file the same in this Court with your return thereon, identifying the individuals upon whom copies were served and the manner employed, UNLESS [my emphasis], pursuant to Rule G(3Xc)(iiXA) of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions, the defendant properties are in the government’s possession, custody, or control, or pursuant to Rule G(3)(c)(iv), execution of the warrant involves transmission to an appropriate authority outside the United States where the property is located.”
The government bears the burden of proving that the United States District Court of the District of Columbia has jurisdiction sufficient to support enforcement of the Warrant, and nothing indicates that the government has proven so.
The government bears the burden of proving that the Warrant’s issuance would be valid, and nothing indicates that the government has proven so.
I find no record indicating that the Warrant was signed by a JUDGE of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia.
Here is a copy of the Warrant: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1196366/download
Notice that the warrant misstates, by three months not yet occurred, the date of the Warrant. See the Warrant’s second paragraph, lines 2 & 3 of that paragraph.
What a joke.
And who will execute the “warrant”? Will the US deploy a SEAL TEAM or get British Marines to do the dirty work? Would be interesting to see.
How to wage economic warfare on another country.
Place ever increasing sanctions on it.
Make other countries obey those sanctions.
Stop the target country exporting goods.
Place sanctions on the country’s ministers.
Label their army a “terrorit organisation”.
Commit acts of piracy against their shipping.
Shoot down their passenger aircraft.
Kill tens of thousands of them with chemical weapons.
Now, please remind me which is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the World?
“On Friday, a US District Court judge ( Probably one of Boltons corrupt friends ) issued a warrant to seize the Grace 1, with more than 2 million barrels of oil and $995,000”.
US Justice Department officials made a spectacular error in the warrant by getting their dates wrong. Instead of inputting 16 August, they had written 16 November, as the date of the warrant.
In the meantime the tanker has changed name and flag from Grace 1 – Adrian Daria.
No judge issued the warrant. The warrant would have been signed, if it would have been signed, by the court’s clerk.
The “warrant” is merely a proposed warrant requested by the government. And it does not order or authorize a seizure.
For more details, see my comment posted 16 hours ago.
Thanks for the update.
All worlds MSM ( fake news ) are spreading the fake US warrant.
Just another reminder how controlled and corrupt MSM is.
Check out if the name of the judge is Epstein’s list
What utter crap.