An Iranian supertanker left Gibraltar late Sunday after the territory rejected a U.S. request to continue holding the ship in a detention on suspicion of attempting to breach global sanctions against Syria.
The tanker set sail late Sunday, according to a marine traffic monitoring site and Gibraltar news outlets. The Gibraltar government, in a statement, cited differences between the sanctions authorized by the United States and those of the European Union.
"The European sanctions regime against Iran, which is applicable in Gibraltar, is much narrower than that applicable in the U.S.," said the statement from Gibraltar, a British territory.