Greece ‘won’t assist’ Iranian tanker sought by US – deputy FM

21 Aug, 2019 10:59 / Updated 5 years ago

Greece has said it won’t assist an Iranian supertanker sought by the US that’s in the Mediterranean Sea and believed to be headed for a Greek port.

Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said Greece is under “pressure from US authorities,” which claim the Iran-flagged Adrian Darya 1 is tied to a sanctioned organization, AP reports.

Varvitsiotis says the tanker is too big for any Greek port and can’t legally unload its $130 million worth of light crude at EU refineries.

The ship left Gibraltar on Sunday after being held up for a month for allegedly attempting to breach EU sanctions on Syria. Gibraltar said Iran provided assurances that the tanker wouldn’t unload its cargo in Syria.