Ayatollah Ali Khamenei justified having stolen the crude oil transported by ships from Greece
Ali Khamenei (REUTERS)
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recognized this Saturday that the authorities kept the oil from the seized Greek ships last month in response to the previous seizure of an Iranian-flagged oil tanker in April.
“These people have stolen Iranian oil from us off the Greek coast, and they use their media empire and extensive propaganda to accuse Iran of piracy,” the Ayatollah said in a speech picked up by the news agency Tasnim.
“Who is the pirate? You stole our oil, we’ll take it away. Recovering stolen property is not called stealing,” he added during his appearance on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
The seizure of Both Greek ships took place about a month after the ‘Pegas’ was intercepted by Greece when it was heading to a terminal in Turkey for alleged violation of the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine . After that, he was transferred to the port of Karistos together with the crew, of Russian nationality.
Greece announced two weeks ago thatwill transfer the oil to the United States after the decision in this regard by a court of first instance in Chalkida, which led Tehran to also describe as “unacceptable” that “Greece has surrendered to pressure from the United States United”.
The protests continue after the collapse of a building
He also stated that popular protests are a tool of “the enemies” of the Islamic Republic, after the demonstrations that have shaken the country due to the rise in food prices or the collapse of a building.
“The hope of the enemies to deal a blow to the country it’s the popular protests”, said Khamenei. “But the calculations of the enemies are wrong, like many previous occasions“, the religious leader affirmed before 150 senior officials of the Persian country and ambassadors at the Khomeini mausoleum in Tehran, in a televised ceremony.< /p>
He then stated that “they try to turn the people against the Islamic Revolution” and recalled that after the establishment of the religious regime it was prophesied that it would not last more than six months. “But many more months have passed and we are still strong“, assured the leader, who accused “the enemies” of trying to “break” the Iranian resistance “with social networks and money”.< /p>
The warnings from Khamenei come after in recent weeks there have been protests over the increase in some basic foods, such as bread, after the Government of the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisí, eliminated subsidies.
In these protests, which took place in several cities of the country, At least two people were killed, according to Iranian media. In addition, the collapse of a building in the southern city of Abadan, which caused at least 34 deaths, sparked protests again last week.
(With information from Europa Press and EFE)