Greece accused Iran of “piracy” after Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards said they seized two Greek-flagged oil tankers in the Gulf Friday.
“These actions are tantamount to acts of piracy,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, warning Greek citizens to avoid travelling to Iran.
Athens said Iranian navy helicopters had landed gunmen on the two tankers earlier on Friday.
One of them, the Delta Poseidon, was sailing in international waters at the time, the ministry said.
A spokeswoman at the Athens-based company Polembros identified the second tanker as the Prudent Warrior.
“The ship has been seized by the Iranian authorities. We have no communication with them at this time,” she told AFP.
The Greek foreign ministry said the second tanker was near the Iranian coast when seized.
The ministry said nine Greeks were among the crews of both vessels, but did not give a number of other sailors on board.
Athens has informed the European Union and the International Maritime Organisation of the incident, the ministry said.
Iran Guards admit seizure
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized two Greek oil tankers in the Gulf Friday, days after Athens confirmed it would deliver to Washington Iranian oil it had seized from a Russian tanker.
“The IRGC naval forces today (Friday) seized two Greek oil tankers in the Persian Gulf due to violations that were committed,” the Guards — the ideological arm of the military — said in a statement on their official website.
It did not elaborate on what the “violations” were.
(AFP)/ FRANCE24
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.