A controversial Iranian tanker underway in the Mediterranean laden with a 2.1m barrel crude-oil cargo seems to be heading ever closer to Syria, where it was bound to go in the first place.

The crew of the 300,600-dwt Adrian Darya 1 (built 1997) early on 30 August switched its stated AIS destination to Iskenderun, a Turkish port just to the north of the Turkish-Syrian border.