Category Archives: Gibraltar

Spain and UK reach draft deal on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar

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British overseas territory had been left out of deal announced on Christmas Eve

A last-minute deal between the UK and Spain – agreed just hours before Gibraltar was poised to become the only frontier marked by a hard Brexit – will allow for free movement between the British overseas territory and much of the EU.

“Today is a day for hope,” Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, said on Thursday as she announced that an agreement in principle had been reached. “In the long history of our relations with the UK, related to Gibraltar, today we’re facing a turning point.”

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Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal

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From the Strait of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crew

Full story: ‘I’ve never seen or heard of attacks’ – scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats

Scientists have been left baffled by incidents of orcas ramming sailing boats along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts.

In the last two months, from southern to northern Spain, sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage.

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Brexit: UK reneging on Northern Ireland pledges risks trade deals with US and EU

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Concerns raised after reports negotiating team told to devise plans to ‘get around’ protocol in withdrawal agreement

Reneging on the special Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland will risk trade deals with both the EU and the US, experts have warned.

Concern has been raised after Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiating team has reportedly been ordered to come up with plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement, which includes checks on goods and food going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

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Devon museum in repatriation dispute over indigenous relics

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Efforts to recover the 19th-century regalia of a Blackfoot Nation leader began in 2008

A British museum is resisting attempts from Canada to secure the repatriation of sacred relics of a 19th-century indigenous chief because the centre where his descendants want to locate them is not an accredited museum, but the final decision lies with local councillors in England.

In an increasingly acrimonious dispute, backers of the campaign to repatriate regalia belonging to Crowfoot of the Blackfoot Nation were told by officials at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter that “no one wants to get their hands dirty” when it came to the sensitive question of repatriating looted artefacts held in UK arts institutions.

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British-Iranian relations strained as oil tanker is seen off Syria

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Adrian Darya, previously called Grace 1, photographed near Russian navy facility

Britain is seeking to establish whether Iran has sold oil to Syria in breach of written undertakings given by Tehran to authorities in Gibraltar.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that a tanker seized by British Marines on 9 July and released in August had reached its final destination “on the Mediterranean coast” and sold its oil – without identifying the country.

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Iranian tanker seized by Gibraltar ‘photographed off Syria’

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Adrian Darya 1, formerly the Grace 1, was only released on condition it did not discharge its load of 2.1m barrels of oil in Syria

The Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1 at the centre of a dispute between Tehran and western powers has been photographed by satellite off the Syrian port of Tartus, a US space technology company has said.

Maxar Technologies Inc said the image showed the tanker Adrian Darya 1 very close to Tartus on 6 September. The ship appeared to have turned off its transponder in the Mediterranean west of Syria, ship-tracking data showed. The tanker, which is loaded with Iranian crude oil, sent its last signal giving its position between Cyprus and Syria sailing north on Monday afternoon.

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Iranian tanker at centre of diplomatic row leaves Gibraltar

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Shipping data show vessel moving as territory rejects final US request to hold it longer

The Iranian supertanker at the centre of a diplomatic row between Britain and Iran left Gibraltar on Sunday night, according to shipping data.

The marine traffic monitoring site Refinitiv showed the vessel moving away from the British territory, where it had been held for six weeks. Shortly later Refinitiv said the tanker revised its destination to Kalamata.

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US unveils warrant to seize Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar dispute

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A day after Gibraltar judge allows vessel’s release, US condemns ‘scheme to unlawfully access US financial system’

The US justice department has issued a warrant for the seizure of the Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a weeks-long diplomatic dispute, just a day after a Gibraltar judge allowed the release of the detained vessel.

The move by Washington marks a significant escalation in its efforts to tighten economic sanctions against Iran, trying to detain a tanker that Gibraltar had said was no longer impounded under EU sanctions.

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Gibraltar says it will free oil tanker at centre of Iran row

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Territory says Tehran has promised oil is not for Syria but US is challenging decision

Gibraltar’s chief minister has said he will allow a detained Iranian oil tanker to be released after Tehran gave the territory’s government an assurance that it would not allow its cargo to be discharged in Syria.

But Fabian Picardo acknowledged that his decision could yet be overturned after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched a challenge in the territory’s courts.

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Failure of Iran deal could pose ‘existential threat’, says Hunt

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UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt tries to reinforce nuclear deal abandoned by US

Tensions in the Middle East could pose an existential threat to mankind unless the Iran nuclear deal is maintained, Jeremy Hunt will say on Monday in his starkest warning since the regional crisis escalated two months ago.

Speaking ahead of an EU meeting in Brussels, the UK foreign secretary will try to underline the importance of the deal, which was abandoned unilaterally by the US a year ago, leading to an accelerating reciprocal withdrawal by Iran.

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Iran refuses to end breach of nuclear deal until it gets ‘full rights’

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French envoy visits Tehran as Rouhani warns UK tanker seizure will have repercussions

Iran has told Europe it will not reverse its decision to increase uranium enrichment beyond the limits set by the 2015 nuclear accord until it achieves its “full rights” to an economic relationship with the EU under the deal.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior security official and representative of Iran’s supreme leader, made his remarks as he met a senior French diplomat sent to Tehran by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

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Iran fury as Royal Marines seize tanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria

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Iran summons UK ambassador over incident off Gibraltar as tensions escalate over nuclear deal

Royal Marines have helped seize an Iranian supertanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria off the coast of Gibraltar, escalating tensions between the UK and Tehran as the agreement aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear programme unravels.

A detachment of nearly 30 British troops working with the Gibraltarian police intercepted the vessel, believed to be carrying 2m barrels of oil, in a dramatic manoeuvre Spain said had been conducted at the request of the US.

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Spanish warship orders Gibraltar boats to leave British waters

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Royal Navy sends boats after threat to commercial vessels anchored off UK territory

A Spanish warship has ordered commercial vessels to leave British waters, Gibraltar’s government said.

The warship’s crew can be heard in an audio recording of a radio exchange on Sunday telling vessels anchored at the Rock to “leave Spanish territorial waters”. Royal Navy boats were deployed in response to the incident.

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Deflagging of refugee rescue ship a ‘dark moment’ for Europe

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Report by Human Rights at Sea says revoking of Aquarius’s flag sets precedent for states to ignore international humanitarian law

The deflagging of the Aquarius, the last migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean, represents a “dark moment” in European history, setting a dangerous precedent for states to flout international humanitarian laws.

A report by the charity Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) cited “inconsistencies in reasoning” given by Gibraltar and Panama for revoking the flag of Aquarius, which it said had acted transparently.

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Brexit: Gibraltar ‘colony’ row flares as EU makes travel visa-free for Britons

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Footnote attached to EU regulation on insistence of Spain

A straightforward change in EU law guaranteeing visa-free travel for Britons in Europe after Brexit has sparked a diplomatic row after Brussels described Gibraltar as “a colony of the British Crown” in its no-deal legislation.

The footnote containing the contentious description of the Rock has been attached to the EU’s regulation on the insistence of Spain, with whom the UK has been in dispute over Gibraltar for three centuries.

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