Gibraltarian authorities issued a release detailing the operation, which was apparently triggered by intelligence information that the US relayed to Britain, implying that the tanker was in British territorial waters.
Madrid will formally complain to London over what it considers to be an incursion into Spanish waters, said a source at the Foreign Ministry. Spain does not recognize any Gibraltarian territorial waters, based on the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht by which Spain ceded the territory during the War of Spanish Succession.
“We are analyzing the circumstances and seeing how they affect our sovereignty,” said Josep Borrell, the acting Spanish foreign minister and
the EU’s official nominee to be the next High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
According to the official version of events, London alerted Madrid about the presence of the supertanker and warned that “there was going to be an intervention by British forces to detain it in the port of Gibraltar.”
But the seizure did not take place in the port, which is part of Gibraltar’s territory, but further out in waters that Spain considers its own. In spite of it, Madrid made no attempt at halting the boarding operation.
“Spain did not want to interfere because this was about upholding EU sanctions,” said a ministry source. A Civil Guard patrol boat was sent out to monitor the operation.
