DUBAI (Reuters) - The owner of an Iranian oil tanker that was seized off Gibraltar says the ship will head to Mediterranean ports, an Iranian maritime official was quoted as saying on Thursday, after Gibraltar decided to free the tanker.

"According to an announcement by the owner of the tanker, the destination of Grace 1 will be Mediterranean ports," the deputy head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation, Jalil Eslami, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency. He did not name the owner.

Britain's Mediterranean territory Gibraltar has decided to free the tanker, but did not immediately indicate when or if the ship would set sail after the United States launched a new, last-minute legal bid to hold it.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra)