Iranian supreme leader says Tehran took oil from Greek tankers

Raids were response to Greece’s role in the US removing crude from an Iranian-flagged tanker, Khamenei says

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei marked the 33rd anniversary of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini's death with criticism of what he called Iran's enemies. EPA

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran took oil from two Greek tankers last month in the Arabian Gulf.

Helicopter raids were launched in retaliation for Greece’s part in the US taking crude from an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Mediterranean Sea because of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

“They steal Iranian oil off the Greek coast, then our brave men who don’t fear death respond and seized the enemy’s oil tanker,” Mr Khamenei said in a speech marking the 33rd anniversary of the death of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini.

“Who is the pirate? You stole our oil, we took it back from you.”

Iran’s confiscation of the tankers was the latest in a string of hijackings and explosions in the region that includes the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil passes.

The incidents began in 2018, after US president Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. Under that, Tehran had limited its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

In his speech, Mr Khamenei accused the US of supporting recent protests in Iran sparked by price increases and the slashing of subsidies by the government, saying enemies were fuelling unrest in attempts to overthrow the government.

“The enemies have counted on public protests to put people against the Islamic Republic,” Mr Khamenei said. “Surely the enemy’s forecast is wrong, like many of its others.”

Street protests across several provinces in Iran have simmered in recent weeks following the latest cut in state food subsidies nearly a year after President Ebrahim Raisi took office.

The latest protests underscore an economic crisis and stalled negotiations with major powers over the country’s nuclear enrichment plans

“They think they can cause confrontation between people and the Islamic Republic, which is wrong because the Islamic Republic attaches great importance to people,” IRNA news agency quoted Mr Khamenei as saying, referring to enemies.

“The nature of the Islamic Republic is against oppression.”

The government has sharply raised the price of some basic goods, such as cooking oil and flour-based staples.

People snatched loaves of bread from shop shelves before the prices increased.

For months, teachers have protested, demanding better pay, working conditions, and education reforms.