Video footage and photographs showed the tanker flying the red, green and white flag of Iran and bearing the new name of @@@Adrian Darya-1@@@ painted in white on its hull. Its previous name, @@@Grace 1@@@, had been painted over. The vessel@@@s anchor was still down.
The Grace 1 had originally flown the Panamian flag but Panama@@@s Maritime Authority said in July that the vessel had been de-listed after an alert that indicated the ship had participated in or was linked to terrorism financing.
Gibraltar lifted a detention order on the vessel on Thursday but its fate was further complicated by the United States, which made a last-ditch legal appeal to hold it.
The initial impounding of the Grace 1 kicked off a sequence of events that saw Tehran seize a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf two weeks later, heightening tension on a vital international oil shipping route.
That tanker, the Stena Impero, is still detained.
The two vessels have since become pawns in a bigger game, feeding into wider hostilities since the United States last year pulled out of an international agreement to curb Iran@@@s nuclear program, and reimposed economic sanctions.
