An Israeli NGO asked a court in Gibraltar to seize and sell the Iranian-controlled tanker Grace 1 to please a US court judgement. The vessel was seized on July 4 by the UK Royal Marines while passing near Gibraltar.
In 2017, a pro-Israeli non profit Shurat Hadin won a lawsuit against Iran and Syria of complicity in the death of an American child who was killed in an attack by Palestinian political party Hamas in 2014. The US Court decided that Tehran should pay the child’s parents nearly $180 million in compensation.
In the possibility of being sold, Grace 1 will not bring the amount needed but it would add a useful amount for the vessel’s seizure and sale of Iranian assets in foreign jurisdictions, as Shurat Hardin reported to AFP.
In the meantime, Israeli Shurat Hadin sued many nations to recover a portion of judgements against Iran.
Specifically, it filed a suit in a French court to confiscate Iranian funds passing through INSTEX, the EU-backed trading mechanism constructed to bypass American sanctions on Iranian financial transactions. Thus, on behalf of many families affected by terrorists, Shurat Hadin asked the court to order that all money, oil or other goods belonging to Iran or earmarked for Iran will be paid as compensation to victims or their relatives.
In the meantime, the previous week, UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, offered to release the vessel under the condition that the tanker will not go to Syria.
