Iran Calls Oil Seizure Piracy Demanding Greece Abide by Maritime Law

The Maritime Executive

…As reported at the beginning of the week, the U.S. ended the incident that began nearly seven weeks ago by winning an order to seize the cargo of 700,000 barrels of crude aboard the shadowy tanker. Registered as Pegas and flying the Russian flag, the vessel is anchored off the Greek island of Evia. Greek authorities initially detained the vessel due to EU sanctions related to Ukraine but later said the vessel would be released. An Iranian watchdog group, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), however, called attention to the vessel saying it was loaded with Iranian crude. The United States had listed the 115,520 dwt tanker on previous sanctions on the Iranian oil trade and moved to seize the cargo on those grounds.