Every change of tack by the huge vessel, with its cargo of 2.1 million barrels worth around $140 million, has sparked intense speculation.
It was detained for six weeks by the British territory of Gibraltar and released despite a US attempt to keep it detained on suspicion that its cargo was bound for Syria.
While Iran has denied selling the oil to its ally Damascus, experts said the likely scenario was for a ship-to-ship transfer, with a Syrian port as the final destination.
Maritime traffic monitors had shown that the Adrian Darya's latest listed destinations, which are not necessarily the next approved port of call, were in Turkey.
After tracking sites showed Mersin as its destination, it then switched to Iskenderun, prompting a reaction from Turkey’s foreign minister Friday.
“This tanker is not heading actually to Iskenderun (in Turkey), this tanker is heading to Lebanon,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a visit to Oslo.
He later clarified that he did not necessarily mean the tanker would dock at a Lebanese port, but that it appeared to be heading “towards the country’s territorial waters”.
Lebanon swiftly dismissed the scenario, stressing that it never buys crude oil because it simply does not have refineries.
No refinery in Lebanon
“The energy ministry does not buy crude oil from any country and Lebanon does not own a crude oil refinery,” Energy Minister Nada Boustani said in a statement.
She added that Lebanon had not received any docking request from the tanker.
“There is also no request for the Adrian Darya 1 oil tanker to enter Lebanon,” Boustani said.
According to maritime traffic monitoring websites, the huge tanker is currently just northwest of the island nation of Cyprus.
A Lebanese government official said the country would not permit the tanker to enters its waters.
“If the tanker enters Lebanon’s territorial waters, measures will be taken to send it back out,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Iran said Monday it had "sold the oil" aboard the tanker and that the owner would decide the destination.
It did not identify the buyer or say whether the oil had been sold before or after the tanker’s detention in the Strait of Gibraltar, on Spain’s southern tip.
The ship was seized by Gibraltar police and British special forces on July 4 and held for six weeks on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.
Iran denied the charge, but said it could not name the actual destination due to the United States’ “economic terrorism” and its sanctions on Iranian oil sales.
In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps impounded a British-flagged tanker in strategic Gulf waters. Britain called it a tit-for-tat move but Tehran denied any connection.
A court in the British territory ordered the tanker’s release on August 15 despite a last-minute legal bid by the United States to have it detained.
‘Aimlessly moseying’
The Adrian Darya 1 set sail for the eastern Mediterranean three days after it was released.
According to maritime traffic monitoring websites, the huge tanker has changed direction multiple times, following no apparent logic.
After the vessel listed Iskenderun as its destination, the TankerTrackers social media account noted Friday that little could be read into this.
“Consider this just a record update rather than anything substantial. We believe a transfer is still a few days away. Turkey will not import this oil,” it said.
It earlier described the ship as “aimlessly moseying around the Med”.
Tensions between arch-enemies Iran and the US have soared ever since Washington stepped up its campaign of “maximum pressure” against Tehran and reimposed sanctions after last year unilaterally pulling out of a multilateral 2015 nuclear deal.
Syria, which has ports on the Mediterranean, is also under a raft of US and European sanctions over its eight-year conflict.
Russia – which together with Iran, is Damascus’ key ally in the conflict – announced Friday that a ceasefire would come into force in the northwestern region of Idlib.
By Jean-Marc Mojon
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