November 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Two Greek-flagged oil tankers that had been held since May in an Iranian port have been released, ending a long dispute that sparked a diplomatic conflict between Iran and Greece over the seizure of the Russian oil tanker ‘Lana’.
“Today is a very pleasant day for our sailors, but also for Greece in general, as an unpleasant and particularly complex case has come to an end, after the systematic efforts of the Greek government,” the Minister of Maritime Transport said in a statement. and Insular Policy, Yannis Plakiotakis.
Specifically, the ship ‘Delta Poseidon’ and the ‘Prudent Warrior’ were detained on May 27 in the Iranian port of the city of Bandar Abbas, in the province of Hormozgán, and have been released after reaching an agreement with the Iranian authorities, as reported by the Greek newspaper ‘Ta Nea’.
The dispute began when the Greek authorities seized the oil tanker ‘Lana’, flying the Iranian flag, on April 14 after taking refuge from a strong storm in a bay in front of the port of Karistos, on the island of Euboea.
The tanker, formerly called ‘Pegasus’ and later renamed ‘Lana’, was intercepted on its way to a terminal in Turkey for alleged violation of sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. After that, she was transferred to the port of Karistos along with the crew, of Russian nationality.
It was later determined that the tanker’s cargo was some 115,000 tons of Iranian oil, which led the United States to demand the transfer of crude oil due to the sanctions imposed against Tehran, a request that was finally accepted by the Greek authorities.
This decision sparked criticism from Tehran, which summoned the Greek charge d’affaires in Iran to convey their protest at what they considered “unacceptable”. In addition, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized that Greece “has given in to pressure from the United States.”
