Cypriot captain of ‘Prudent Warrior’ returns home

The Cypriot captain of tanker Prudent Warrior, one of two vessels seized by Iran in May, has returned safely to Cyprus, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Nicosia expressed satisfaction that the consular aspect of the matter has been successfully completed.

The ministry Tweeted that Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has “been in touch with the Cypriot captain of the vessel Prudent Warrior, who has returned to Cyprus safely.”

Prudent Warrior was seized along with Delta Poseidon by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard in the Gulf at the end of May.

They were seized in response to the confiscation of oil by the United States from the 115,400dwt Lana, built in 2003.

The Lana was detained on May 25 after being originally stopped in April by Greek port authorities at Karystos, on the island of Evia, after it sought shelter from bad weather.

At that time, it was named Pegas and sailed under a Russian flag,

Tehran gave the green light in September to release the crews of two Greek-owned oil tankers seized by Iran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the tankers in the Gulf days after Athens confirmed it would deliver the Iranian oil it had seized from the Russian tanker Pegas to Washington.

Greece swiftly accused Iran of “piracy.”

Its foreign ministry said Iranian helicopters had landed commandos on the two tankers.

The 49 Delta Poseidon and Prudent Warrior crew members, including 10 Greek sailors and one Cypriot, were held hostage at sea in the Gulf for almost 100 days.

During a recent visit of a Greek delegation to Iran, the Iranian side took a significant step back and agreed to replace the two crews.

Tehran allowed the release of the crews after the 100,000 tons of oil originally seized by the Greek authorities at the request of the US was returned to the tanks of the Iranian-owned ship Lana in late August.