Us warns Greece against Iranian ship
The Iranian ship (Adrian Darya-1) has been denied help by Greece on the suspicion of shipping oil to Syria, prior to this denial the said ship was earlier detained in Gibraltar.
In the words of Deputy foreign minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis as he spoke to broadcaster ANT1 that his country was “not willing to facilitate the course of this ship to Syria”. This decision comes after the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened sanctions on any country that helps the tanker.
Adrian Darya-1 left Gibraltar on Sunday and listed the Greek port Kalamata as its destination.
Authorities in Iran said the British territory earlier detained the tanker previously identified as Grace 1 in July. Despite a last minute US request, Gibraltar lifted its detention order on Friday and the tanker sailed off east into the Mediterranean.
Tehran has previously said it was willing to send naval forces to escort the Adrian Darya-1 which is currently north of the Algerian port of Oran.
Mr Varvitsiotis disclosed that ever since the US had put pressure on Greece to deny any help to the tanker, Iran has not been in communication with the Greek government.
In any case, Mr Varvitsiotis claims that the Adrian Darya-1 – which is carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil – is too large for any Greek port to accommodate. When asked how Greece would respond if the tanker dropped anchor in its waters, his response was: “In that case we will see what will happen.”
The US believes Adrian Darya-1 has links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – a branch of the country’s armed forces that the US has designated a terrorist organisation.
“We want to deny them the resources to continue their horrific terror campaign,” Mr Pompeo told reporters.
“We have made clear that anyone who touches it, anyone who supports it, anyone who allows a ship to dock is at risk of receiving sanctions from the United States,” he said, adding the US would take “every action we can” to stop the tanker from heading to Syria.
Adrian Darya-1 enlisted Kalamata as its destination and was trying to return to Iran through the Suez Canal, however Samir Madani, one of the founders of the maritime traffic site stated that “They will have to offload around a million barrels to another vessel, most likely with an Iranian flag as well, in order to do so because she is too heavily laden in the water,” he said.
“To go to Syria she’s also too heavily laden to deliver to [the port of] Baniyas without assistance.”
Mr Madani says. Their analysts believe the ship was heading to Syrian waters as a safe haven, from where they could offload oil to smaller ships for delivery across the Mediterranean.
