Amidst all the confusion surrounding the fate of the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Daria (formerly Grace 1), one glaring mistake by the US Department of Justice officials has been missed by the international media.

The Justice Department’s warrant, which can be found at (https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1196366/download), gets the date wrong. Instead of filing August 16, it files the date of the warrant as November 16.

Whilst the full legal consequences of this mistake are not altogether clear, at minimum the current date on the warrant would suggest that the US authorities cannot execute any warrant or searches on the Adrian Daria, at least, not until November 16.

Based on the warrant in its current form, any interference with the Adrian Daria would contravene the US’s own laws, let alone international law as enshrined in the Law of the Sea.