Greek authorities had connected the Russian sanctions imposed by the European Union after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February to the tanker seizure in Greece.[2] Iran reacted to the event by seizing two Greek tankers after issuing a threat to take "punitive action" against Greece.[2] The action was taken after Greece declared it would turn over to the US 700,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil from a Russian-flagged vessel it had confiscated.[3] It was not clarified whether the cargo was seized because it was Iranian oil or because the tanker was subject to sanctions because of its connections to Russia.[4]