Saudi says pirate "terrorism" will spark crackdown

ATHENS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday the hijacking of a Saudi supertanker with $100 million of oil onboard would trigger an international crackdown on piracy, which he compared to terrorism.

Prince Saud al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia would throw its weight behind a European-led initiative to step up security in the busy shipping lanes off Africa's east coast, where the Sirius Star was seized on Sunday.

"This is an initiative that we are going to join and so are many other countries of the Red Sea," Prince Saud told a news conference. "This outrageous act by the pirates, I think, will only reinforce the resolve of the countries of the Red Sea and internationally to fight piracy.

"Piracy is against everybody. Like terrorism, it is a disease that has to be eradicated," he said after meeting Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

The Sirius Star, captured 450 nautical miles southeast of the Kenyan port of Mombasa, is carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil.

The tanker had been heading for the United States via the Cape of Good Hope and had 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. Shipowners are negotiating ransoms.

The seizure was carried out despite NATO and European anti-piracy operations in one of the world's busiest shipping areas. Bakoyannis said Greece has contributed to the mission along Somalia's coastline with a frigate and a helicopter.

Greece will be the first nation to hold the rotating command of the EU fleet, which will sail to the Red Sea by the end of the year.

The International Maritime Bureau, a piracy watchdog, says there have been 92 attacks off Somalia this year and 36 ships have been hijacked.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; editing by Daniel Flynn and Charles Dick)