Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged Saturday that Iran took two Greek oil tankers last month in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf.
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The confiscations were retaliation for Greece's role in the US seizure of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker the same week in the Mediterranean Sea over violating Washington's harsh 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," Khamenei said during an 80-minute speech on the anniversary of the death of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "But they use their media empire and extensive propaganda to accuse Iran of piracy."
"Who is the pirate? You stole our oil, we took it back from you. Taking back a stolen property is not called stealing," he added.
The seizures ratcheted up tensions between Iran and the West already simmering over Iran's tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has been enriching more uranium, closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before, causing concern that negotiators won't find a way back to the accord and raising the risk of a wider war.
