Iran’s supreme leader said his country’s seizure of two Greek oil tankers in Persian Gulf waters last month was a direct response to the U.S. and Greece’s “robbery” of Iranian crude.
“Our oil was stolen off the Greek coasts,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Saturday. “We took back what was stolen from us. Who’s the thief?”
Iranian authorities had previously said the ships, carrying about 1 million barrels of oil each, were detained over committing undisclosed “violations”.
The move came two days after Greek authorities, in coordination with U.S. counterparts, stopped an Iranian-flagged tanker and confiscated its cargo on May 25.
