Iranian flag tanker took on board a consignment of oil confiscated by the Greek authorities in favor of the United Statesand is about to leave Greece. Now it’s up to Iran to let go of the two Greek tankers it has seized.
More than two weeks after Supreme Court decisionsthe tanker “Ice Energy” with 60,000 tons of confiscated oil approached Lana on August 11, and oil transshipment began on August 12.
عمليات انتقال نفت مسروقه ايران به كشتي لانا ( کشتی حامل نفت ایران)، در آبهاي يونان در حال انجام است و كشتي به زودي همراه محموله كامل نفت، عازم كشورمان خواهد شد.به یاری خداوند بزرگ، در پيگيري و تامين منافع ملي كشورمان، لحظه ايترديد به خود راه نخواهيم داد. pic.twitter.com/32jgZqBZuh
Emb. IR Iran in Athens (@IRANinGREECE) August 12, 2022
The Iranian embassy in Greece on Friday noted that “in Greek waters, the stolen Iranian oil is being transferred to the Lana (Iranian oil vessel), and it will soon leave for our country with a full load.”
Portal maritime-executive.com reported on Monday that “late in the evening of August 14, the transshipment of oil was completed.” Ice Energy has left Greece and is heading towards Gibraltar. However, the Iranian tanker “Lana”, according to the website marine traffic, still stands in the roadstead off the coast of Salamina. Apparently, the Greek authorities have not yet given permission to leave, waiting for response from Iran.
US officials have largely remained silent on the case and any future steps they may take. They just said they respect the Greek courts. They tried 2 times to appeal against the decision of the court. Once for the legality of the confiscation of oil, the other – for the payment of towing services. In addition, the operator “Ice Energy” told the Greek courts that the US authorities threaten with sanctions and breach of contract if they return the oil to “Lana”. In May, the US hired ice energy and another tanker to transport confiscated oil to Texas. However ice energy was the only one to complete the ship-to-ship transfer of oil before Iran could block the lawsuit in the Greek courts. Tanker ice energy already arrived in the USA, but did not have time to unload when the command to return followed.
How it happened
This story began in April 2022, when the Greek authorities arrested the ship Lana under the Iranian flagformerly called pegasus, with 19 Russian crew members on board, off the coast of the island of Evia, allegedly due to European Union sanctions.
In early April, the Russian-flagged Pegas tanker offloaded 115,000 tons of oil from the Iranian island of Sirri in the Persian Gulf for transportation to a Russian-controlled Black Sea port, in accordance with a bilateral agreement between Iran and Russia. According to other sources, the tanker was heading to the Turkish port of Marmaris.
United Against Nuclear Iran, a bipartisan non-profit advocacy organization based in the United States with the stated goal of “preventing Iran from realizing its ambitions to become a regional nuclear-weapon superpower,” issued a statement on the matter, and its head Mark Wallace urged Greece and the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proceed immediately with the confiscation of the oil tanker. As a “justification” for this, it was stated that Greece is a member EU and NATO, and therefore should contribute to the implementation of the sanctions regime against Iranian oil.
tanker”Pegas”which the passed past Greecereceived mechanical power plant damage, because of which he was forced to call rescuers. The plans were thwarted by the aggression of nature – due to unfavorable conditions, the tanker was towed to the roadstead of the port of Karistos (Evia Island).
As soon as the ship was in Greek territorial waters, the Greek coast guard announced its arrest. The decision to block it, according to information protothema.gr, adopted by the Anti-Money Laundering Authority in the context of the implementation of the sanctions that were imposed by NATO and EU in relation to ships flying the Russian flag.
According to a statement from the Greek authorities, the ship was arrested because it was found to belong to a Russian bank that is on the sanctions list. EU in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Later it turned out that at the time of the arrest, the ship already belonged to Iran and was operated by the Russian company Transmorflot.
“April 28, the Port Authority was instructed to release the vessel,” the Athenian News source said, without elaborating. At the same time, in the port declaredthat the ship’s oil cargo had not been seized. However, the statement of the Greek authorities turned out to be false.
As it turned out later, tanker cargo also appeared bidders from… USA. Since the oil on board was of Iranian origin (115,000 tons), it, according to the laws of the United States, automatically becomes … the property of the United States, based on an instant decision of the Greek court.
Iran did not understand the game and announced a hostile act by capturing 2 Greek tankers
In the comments of the publication cathimerini officials in Athens declaredthat the US embargo on Iranian oil is in effect only in the United States, but not in the European Union, and thus cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Greek court’s decision. The same sources told the publication that prior to the incident with the tanker, “the risk of Iranian retaliation was duly indicated if Greece continued to comply with the US request, despite appropriate legal restrictions.” However, such warnings, they said, were not heeded.
As expected, after such treatment of its cargo, Tehran warned that it would take “punitive measures” against Athens. The Greek authorities pretended not to hear the threat again until Iran finally captured two Greek tankerswhich predictably led to tensions between the two countries, with the Greeks calling the takeover “piracy” and the Iranians calling the Greeks “enemies”.
After that, the Greek authorities began to play up and again arrested the tanker “Lana”, acting, allegedly, on the basis of an interim court order in relation to alleged debts to another shipping company, they say, the case is related to unpaid towing services.
I’m not me, and the hut is not mine
As it turned out later, at the time of the second arrest of the tanker, there was no longer any debt existed, since the tanker company had already paid off the owners of the tug by that time. However, the Greek authorities continued to hold the tanker and refused to return the oil, doing everything possible to drag out the case.
“The ruling has been canceled, the confiscation has been canceled, and therefore the property must be returned to the owner,” said a legal representative of the shipping company. Panagiotis Chiotelis. This means that the seized amount, 60,000 tons of Iranian oil, must be returned and the tanker allowed to leave.
It would seem that everything, the court made a decision, the court of appeal confirmed it, the oil must be returned, the tanker should be lowered, but it was not there …
The Americans (mentioned above United Against Nuclear Iran) continued to actively put pressure on the Greeks, demanding to find any methods to drag out the case. On the other hand, the Greek owners of tankers (and these are not the last people in the country) detained by Iran also put pressure on the Greek authorities, who had to spin like a snake in a frying pan.
A history full of many inaccuraciesprimarily because of the frank disinformation, filed by officials of the Port Authority, Department of Shipping and Coast Guard, is nearing completion. Iran left put point in this dirty story, let go of the Greek ships. However, as experience shows, the real end of this story you can speak only after the Iranian tanker leaves Greek territorial waters.
The main conclusion of this story is that this situation, provoked by the United States, further worsened the situation with the safety of maritime navigation and the law of the sea, becoming a precedent for other countries to seize and forcibly retain foreign ships. In fact, Iran, which defeated the United States in this story, showed that decisive actions by the security forces, on the verge of a foul, can be more effective than judicial decisions and justice.
This means that in the future we should expect an even greater number of seizures of ships, both in ports and on neutral territory, in fact, piracy or privateering, which has happened more than once in history. The answer may be the escort of important cargoes by warships and the inevitable armed clashes in such cases.
The United States has not yet realized that they have opened a “Pandora’s box” …
PS By the way, the main victims in this story were Greece and Iran. All legal expenses fell on Greece as the losing side: more than 3 months of idle time of 2 rather big tankers, payment of insurance, crew salaries, etc., penalties and contract breaks. Iran, whose tanker was in captivity, also lost a lot of money. It is quite possible that Iran will still sue Greece for this story. Moreover, he has all the prerequisites for this.
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