The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday seized two Greek oil tankers in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf, officials said.
The action appeared to be retaliation for Athens’ assistance in the US seizure of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker this week in the Mediterranean Sea over contraventions of Washington’s sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The raid marks the first major incident at sea in months as tensions remain high between Iran and the West over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers. As Tehran enriches more uranium, closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before, worries mount that negotiators will not find a way back to the accord — raising the risk of a wider war.
Photo: AFP
The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement announcing the seizures, accusing the tankers of unspecified contraventions.
Nour News, a Web site close to the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, said a short time earlier that Tehran planned to take “punitive action” over Greece assisting the US in seizing oil days earlier from the Iranian-flagged tanker Lana.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it made a strong demarche to the Iranian ambassador in Athens over the “violent taking over of two Greek-flagged ships” in the Persian Gulf.
“These acts effectively amount to acts of piracy,” a ministry statement said.
The ministry called for the immediate release of the vessels and their crews, saying that the seizure would have “particularly negative consequences” in bilateral relations and in Iran’s relations with the EUn, of which Greece is a member.
An Iranian helicopter landed on the Greek-flagged Delta Poseidon in international waters, about 22 nautical miles (41km) off the coast of Iran, the ministry said.
“Armed men then took the crew captive,” it said, adding that two Greek nationals were among the crew.
“A similar incident has been reported on another Greek-flagged vessel that was carrying seven Greek citizens, close to the coast of Iran,” the ministry said.
A Greek official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the second ship as the Prudent Warrior.
Its manager, Polembros Shipping in Greece, earlier said the company was “cooperating with the authorities and making every possible effort to address the situation effectively.”
Greek officials did not identify the nationalities of the other crew on board the vessels.
Both vessels had come from Iraq’s Basra oil terminal, loaded with crude, MarineTraffic.com tracking data showed.
Prudent Warrior just before had been off Qatar and likely loaded oil there as well, the data showed.
It appeared the two ships had come close to — but not into — Iranian territorial waters Friday, a US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
After the hijacking, they drifted into Iranian waters. The ships had also turned off their tracking devices — another red flag, but neither had issued a mayday or a call for help, the official said.
Iran’s seizure on Friday is the latest in a string of hijackings and explosions to roil a region that includes the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil passes. The incidents began after then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
“This incident is assessed to be a retaliatory action in line with a history of Iranian forces detaining vessels in a tit-for-tat manner,” maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global said. “As a result, Greek-flagged vessels operating within the vicinity of Iran in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are currently assessed to be at a heightened risk of interception and it is advised to avoid this area until further notice.”
Underlining that threat, Iran’s Tasnim news agency wrote on Twitter that “there are still 17 other Greek ships in the Persian Gulf that could be seized.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of