Published on: 05/27/2022 – 20:36
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s elite army, announced on Friday that they had seized two Greek oil tankers shortly after protesting Greece’s seizure of a ship carrying Iranian oil.
With our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi
The two Greek tankers were seized in the Persian Gulf. These two ships transported almost two million barrels of oil. Revolutionary Guard helicopters flew armed men to the two ships to inspect them. The crew of the two tankers includes a total of nine Greeks.
This action comes after Greece seized a Russian tanker transporting Iranian oil in the Mediterranean. Greece had agreed to hand over the cargo from this tanker to the United States.
Earlier on Friday, Tehran subpoenaed the Swiss chargé d’affaires, whose country represents US interests, to demand the release of the tanker carrying Iranian oil and said it would take action against Greece.
Actions strongly condemned by Athens. “These acts amount to piracy,” the ministry said in a statement, urging Greek citizens to avoid travel to Iran.
These new tensions come as Nuclear negotiations between Iran and the great powers are at a dead end. The United States refuses to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist groups and has imposed new sanctions on this Iranian army for oil smuggling.