Tension is rising in the waters of the Persian Gulf: the head of Greek diplomacy accused Tehran of "piracy" on Friday, May 27, following the seizure by Iran of two oil tankers flying the Greek flag.

Confirmed by Tehran, this seizure follows that of a ship transporting Iranian oil by Athens, a few weeks earlier.

"These acts are tantamount to piracy," the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling on Greek citizens to avoid traveling to Iran.

Athens said Iranian navy helicopters airlifted gunmen aboard the two tankers earlier on Friday.

One of them, the Delta Poseidon, was then sailing in international waters, the ministry said.

The second, which has not been named, was near the Iranian coast, according to the same source.

The ministry said nine Greeks were among the crews of the two ships, but declined to give the number of other sailors on board.

Athens informed the EU and the International Maritime Organization of the incident, the ministry added.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, announced the same day that they had seized two Greek oil tankers in Gulf waters, shortly after protesting against Greece's seizure of a vessel carrying Iranian oil.

The war in Ukraine at the heart of tensions 

In a statement posted on their website, the Revolutionary Guards said their naval forces "seized two Greek oil tankers in the Persian Gulf today due to violations they have committed". 

Earlier Friday, Iran had again called for "immediately lifting" the seizure of a ship carrying Iranian oil held since mid-April by Greece at the request of the United States.

Under European sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine, the Greek authorities on April 19 seized the Russian oil tanker Pegas, renamed Lana a few days later, off the island of Euboea.

According to reports at the time, the tanker was carrying 115,000 tons of Iranian oil.

On Wednesday May 25, a spokeswoman for the Greek port police told AFP that this oil would be "transferred to the United States (...) following a request from American justice".

The Iranian foreign ministry on Friday summoned the Swiss charge d'affaires, who represents American interests due to the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Tehran accuses Washington of "clear violation of maritime law and international conventions" and calls for "immediately lifting the seizure of the ship and its cargo", according to a press release published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Iran reiterated its opposition to "the pressure and intervention of the American government" which led to the seizure of the ship, which it considers to be under the "sovereignty of the Islamic Republic".

But according to documents in the hands of the Greek Coast Guard, the tanker is still under the Russian flag.

A Coast Guard source told AFP that the transfer of the oil to a vessel flying the flag of Liberia began on Thursday and would "take a few days".

The incidents come as negotiations between Iran and world powers to restore the nuclear deal have stalled since March.

One of the main sticking points is Tehran's request to remove the Guardians from the US blacklist of "terrorist organizations", a request that Washington has rejected.

With AFP

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