Armed Iranian boats try to seize UK tanker
‘British Heritage’ was crossing into Strait of Hormuz when Iranian vessels approached
Five armed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) boats failed in an attempt to capture a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, CNN reported.
The tanker, called British Heritage, was crossing into the Strait of Hormuz when the Iranian boats approached. The boats told British Heritage that it should change its course and stop in Iranian territorial waters. A US aircraft overheard and recorded the incident, CNN reported.
The British Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose had been escorting the tanker. When given orders by the Iranian ships, the Navy frigate pointed its guns on the Iranians and warned them to back away. The Iranian ships backed away in response to the verbal warning.
Britain seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar last week over accusations that it was breaking sanctions by taking oil to Syria.
Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, said the aggression would not go “unanswered.”
“Capture of the Iranian oil tanker based on fabricated excuses... will not go unanswered and when necessary, Tehran will give appropriate answer,” Bagheri said.
Tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies have risen sharply since Washington stepped up economic sanctions against Iran, and moved to bring the country’s oil exports to zero as part of a “maximum pressure” policy to make Tehran halt actions that it said undermined regional security.
Iran has responded to the sanctions by starting to breach limits put on its nuclear activities under a 2015 deal with world powers.
Several oil tankers were attacked in waters near Iran’s southern coast in May and June, for which the United States blamed Iran. Tehran denied any involvement.
Last month, Iran shot down a US drone near the Strait of Hormuz, prompting US President Donald Trump to order retaliatory air strikes, only to call them off at the last minute.
The US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday’s incident happened as British Heritage was at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Royal Navy’s HMS Montrose, which was also there, pointed its guns at the boats and warned them over radio, at which point they dispersed,” one of the officials said.
“It was harassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage,” the other official said.
The United States hopes to enlist allies over the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, US Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday.
The IRGC rejected on Thursday morning the claim that they tried to stop the British Heritage in the Gulf on Wednesday.