Report: Iran detains Greek national for smuggled oil tankers

An Iranian state-run daily is reporting that authorities in Tehran have detained a Greek national they accuse of embezzling money from smuggled oil and selling three oil tankers for $100 million.

The report on Thursday in the IRAN newspaper suggests the Greek national was involved in smuggling Iranian crude oil while economic sanctions were imposed over the country's contested nuclear program. Those sanctions under then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad greatly restricted where Iranian oil could be sold in the global market.

The newspaper said the unnamed Greek national was detained three weeks after arriving at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport due to a "special trick" by investigators. It did not elaborate, though it said the Greek had controlled eight Iranian oil tankers and five have since been brought back to Iran.