Greek authorities are about to lift the seizure of an Iranian-flag aframax that has been held for two months for allegedly breaking international sanctions against Russia.
“We are witnessing the lifting of the seizure of the ship,” Iran’s Ports & Maritime Organization said in a statement carried on Tuesday on Iran’s Mehr News Agency.
The report did not elaborate.
A spokesperson at Greece’s shipping ministry, however, said later on Tuesday that the departure ban on the Lana, which is at the anchorage of Karystos in the Aegean Sea, was still in place.
The 115,400-dwt Lana (built 2003) — a Russian-linked, Iranian-flag vessel, has been detained by Greek authorities since April.
According to a source closely following the case, the Iranians’ legal representative submitted to Greek coastguards on Tuesday all documentation necessary to prove that the vessel changed its registration and name during its arrest in Greece.
Before its arrest in April, the Lana was trading under the Russian flag as Pegas.
Its arrest in Greek waters, probably after an engine failure, gave rise to a flurry of legal and diplomatic activity.
In May, a US entity obtained an order from a Greek court to seize Lana’s crude cargo. Most of it, 68,000 tonnes in total, was removed in May and is now in Piraeus on board Dynacom Tanker Management’s 70,400-dwt Ice Energy (built 2006).
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards promptly retaliated on 27 May, seizing two laden, Greek-flag suezmaxes sailing off Iran.
The two ships, the Delta Tankers’ 157,400-dwt Delta Poseidon (built 2011) and Polembros Shipping’s 150,000-dwt Prudent Warrior (built 2017), are still held in Iran with their crews and cargoes.
After hurling angry accusations of international robbery and piracy at each other, Greece and Iran engaged in intense diplomatic and legal activity with a view to resolving the stand-off.
As part of these talks, the Ice Energy has been prevented from sailing to the US and has stayed put in Piraeus.
Then, on 8 June, Iran scored a major success when a Greek appeals court ruled that removing the Lana’s cargo was illegal and that the seized oil must be returned.
Sources speaking to TradeWinds said on Tuesday said the Lana is now expected to hire tugboats to tow it towards Piraeus to take its cargo back from the Ice Energy.
The reason the Lana would move to Piraeus to get the job done is that environmental organisations and seafarer unions have protested against any ship-to-ship oil transfer between the vessels at Karystos.
A return of the Lana’s cargo would probably allow Iranian authorities to release the Delta Poseidon and Prudent Warrior.
Around 50 seafarers on board the two ships are in good health and are in touch with their families. The Iranians have not touched the ships’ cargo so far, despite occasional threats to do so during the course of negotiations with Greek officials.
Super-complicated
The standoff has been described by observers as one of the most complicated cases of ship arrests ever, from a legal and a political point of view.
Plenty of obstacles could still stand in the way of a resolution. US authorities, which treat Iran as a rogue state, might appeal against the latest Greek court decision, to prevent the return of the Lana’s cargo.
Alternatively, the US may apply pressure on Dynacom to prevent it from allowing the return of the Lana’s cargo.
The matter is complicated by the fact that the Lana is subject to a separate arrest order in Karystos, filed by Turkish interests that towed the vessel in April.
The owed amount is understood to be around $3m. However, Iranian authorities are said to have already deposited a security deposit to satisfy these claims.
