SEIZURE AT SEA RAISES FEARS OF WAR
Iran’s capture of Brit tanker seen as ploy to end U.S. sanctions
Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf Friday is the latest escalation of tensions with the West, raising fears of war, while experts say the Islamic republic is trying to end U.S. sanctions by putting pressure on America’s allies.
Britain’s foreign secretary said Iran seized initially two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz — a key but narrow oil shipping lane close to Iran — on Friday. The first, the British-flagged Stena Impero, was taken into an Iranian port. Details on the seizure were sketchy, and there was no immediate report on the condition of the ship’s crew. No photos of them were immediately released.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed that the Stena Impero had violated “international maritime laws and regulations.” The second tanker, the British-operated Mesdar, sailing under Liberia’s flag, was briefly boarded by Iranian forces, then allowed to leave Iran’s territorial waters.
“These seizures are unacceptable,” said British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Company officials with Stena Bulk, the ship’s owner, said they had been unable to contact the crew.
President Trump told reporters Iran is “nothing but trouble.”
“Iran is showing their colors” and “in big trouble right now,” because its economy has been crippled by U.S. economic sanctions, Trump said. He said U.S. officials will be discussing the seizure with Britain. The U.S. has also asked Gulf allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to form a coalition of nations to preserve maritime security near Iranian waters.
The seizure came two days after Washington claimed a U.S. warship downed an Iranian drone in the Strait, which Iran denied.
“What’s happening there is Iran is disrupting commercial shipping as a way to pressure the United States to ease sanctions,” said Rocky Weitz, a professor at Tufts’ Fletcher School. “Iran doesn’t want a full-blown war; neither does the Trump administration. So what Iran is doing is engaging in something called hybrid warfare — it’s unconventional tactics that are subtle enough not to trigger a military response.”
While attacks on tankers have been occurring since May, Weitz said Iran taking responsibility is new, and likely a tactic to get countries that rely on oil exports from the Gulf region to pressure Trump. But, Weitz said the Iranians “strategy is backfiring in the sense it is unifying the major naval powers of the world, because nobody really supports disruptions in oil, attacks on oil tankers and seizures.”
Hussein Ibish of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington said there will likely be “additional provocations” going forward.
“At what point does the Trump administration conclude it needs to retaliate in some way or another? We’re maxed out in sanctions. It’s hard to think of something that doesn’t take on a military edge,” Ibish said.
Ibish said “nobody wants a war,” but “until one side or the other, or both, decide to adjust their policies and someday end up with a viable conversation, we’re going to be dancing on the edge of an explosion here.”