A Russian tanker seized in the Gulf this month on suspicion of smuggling Iraqi oil has been rerouted in line with United Nations sanctions on Iraq, a U.S. spokesman said on Monday.

Jeff Gradeck, U.S. spokesman for the multinational interception force which enforces U.N. sanctions, told Reuters that the tanker Akademik Postovoyt "has been diverted in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolutions". He did not say where the vessel had been diverted to or if tests on the ship's cargo of oil proved it was Iraqi. Under sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Iraqi oil can only be sold under close U.N. scrutiny. "If a ship is determined to be carrying a cargo that is in violation of U.N. sanctions then the ship will be sent to another country and the ship will fall under the jurisdiction of that nation," said Gradeck, who is based in Bahrain at the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters. The tanker was boarded in early April by a U.S. team, which took samples to see if the oil was Iraqi. The ship had been held in the southern Gulf since then, pending results of tests. The Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell had said the ship was carrying Iranian fuel which it had purchased. The U.S. Defence Department said last week the tanker was carrying 80,000 tonnes of oil, one of the biggest shipments intercepted.