TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei admitted on Saturday that Iran had seized oil from two Greek tankers in helicopter raids into the Persian Gulf last month.
The seizure was in retaliation for Greece’s role in seizing US crude from an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Mediterranean that same week.
“They stole Iranian oil from the Greek coast, then our brave people responded without fear of death and captured the enemy’s oil tanker,” Khamenei said in an 80-minute speech marking the death anniversary of the late founder of the Islamic Society. Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But they are using their media empire and extensive propaganda to accuse Iran of plundering.”
“Who is the pirate? You stole our oil, we took it from you. Returning stolen property is not theft,” he added.
The confiscations further increased tensions between Iran and the West, which had already erupted due to Iran’s failed nuclear deal with world powers in 2015. Tehran is enriching with more uranium, getting closer to weapons levels than ever before, raising fears that negotiators won’t find a way. reverting to an agreement and increasing the risk of a wider war.
The revised Iran nuclear deal will hold the “honest” Biden administration responsible for the resulting “blood of Americans, Israelis and Iranians”, as the Iranian rights group Iranian Americans for Freedom (IAL) blames. https://t.co/0PtSjPPvTD
– Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 19, 2022
Iran’s takeover of the tankers is the latest in a series of hijackings and explosions that have rocked the region, including the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which one-fifth of all oil trade passes. The events began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from a nuclear deal, which he saw had severely limited Tehran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
The US Navy blames Iran for the deadly drone attack on an Israel-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021, as well as a series of mine attacks on ships that damaged tankers in 2019.
Last year, Iranian pirates attacked and briefly attacked a Panama-flagged asphalt tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and briefly hijacked and detained a Vietnamese tanker in November.
Tehran has denied involvement in the attacks, but a broader shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the turbulent waters of the region. The seizure tanks have been part of this since 2019, when Iran seized a British-flagged Stena Empire after Britain seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar. A few months later, Iran released the tanker, just as London released the Iranian ship.
Last year, Iran also seized a South Korean flagged tanker and held it for months in a dispute over Seoul’s billions of dollars in fixed assets.
Satellite images analyzed by the AP on Wednesday confirmed that one of the two tankers remained off the coast of the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. Planet Labs PBC photos taken on Tuesday show the Vigilant Warrior hiding between Bandar Abbas and the Iranian island of Kashm, near the Persian Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz through which five of the world’s oil trade passes.
The whereabouts of the second ship, the Delta Poseidon, remains unclear.
Iranian military veteran gets short sentence for piloting illegal immigrants in English Channel https://t.co/7eC7sa4Yii
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 6, 2021
Negotiations on the nuclear deal in Vienna have stalled since April. Since the deal has failed, Iran is using advanced centrifuges and rapidly growing stocks of enriched uranium. Nonproliferation experts warn that Iran has enriched enough with 60% purity – a small technical step from the 90% weapons level – to create a nuclear weapon if it wants to.
While UN experts and Western intelligence agencies say that Iran had an organized military nuclear program until 2003, Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes.
Khamenei, who has the final say in all government affairs, also accused the United States of supporting protests in Iran over recent price increases and cuts in government subsidies. Teachers also showed several weeks in favor of higher wages and working conditions.
The value of the Iranian currency, the rial, has been weakening for years, but has recently fallen to new lows, reflecting growing concerns about the Iranian economy.
Khamenei has criticized US opposition to the country for years and said Washington trusts such protests. Khamenei, 82, said Iran’s enemies are trying to turn Iranian citizens “against the Islamic system” through psychological warfare, the internet and financial support.
Iran is “almost certainly” interfering in Scottish politics to strengthen separatism and harming Britain https://t.co/p9xuKBYIAb
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 3, 2021
Source: Breitbart
