Stand-off with Tehran

Britain’s decision to send a second warship

– HMS Duncan – to the Persian Gulf this week has raised fears that the UK could get dragged into a potential military conflict between the US and Iran. The move was in response to last week’s attempt by the

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps to board a UK tanker – British Heritage – in the Strait of Hormuz. They were only stopped from doing so by the British frigate

HMS Montrose, which trained its guns on the Iranian boats. Iran’s action was itself a response to Britain’s refusal to release an Iranian tanker it had seized in Gibraltar. It was thought to be carrying oil bound for Syria, in violation of EU sanctions.

Tensions were raised further when the International Atomic Energy Agency last week confirmed that Iran had acted on its threat to enrich uranium to levels forbidden under the 2015 nuclear pact negotiated by President Obama – a deal from which Trump unilaterally withdrew the US in 2018.

What the editorials said

Sending another warship to the Gulf could mean better protection for the 15 or so British tankers that pass through it every day, said The Observer. But in Tehran it will be seen as a gratuitous escalation of an already tense situation and reinforce worries that the UK is “unintentionally sliding” towards military conflict with Iran. In picking unnecessary fights, Tehran is falling into Trump’s trap, said the FT. When the US pulled out of the 2015 accord, it could justifiably claim to be the “wronged party”, which made it easier for European powers to pledge their continuing support for the deal. But Iran’s latest “aggressive posturing” will have cost it any remaining sympathy in the West.

The US is most at fault, said The Independent. By imposing ever tougher sanctions, Trump has convinced the ayatollahs that their best defence against invasion and regime change is to build nuclear weapons. They can plainly see how North Korea’s adoption of such a strategy has brought the US to the negotiating table. “If the US wants to contain Iran, it has chosen an extremely risky way to go about it.”