U.K. joins United States in Strait of Hormuz mission

TEHRAN, Iran — Britain said Monday it would join a U.S.-led naval security mission in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s seizure of merchant vessels has raised tensions with the West. Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister lambasted recent U.S. financial sanctions against him, calling the move a “failure” for diplomacy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Tehran “imposing sanctions against a foreign minister means failure” for any efforts at negotiations, and means the side imposing the measures is “opposing talks.”

The U.S. administration last week announced sanctions on Zarif, a month after President Donald Trump had imposed similar sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The moves are seen as part of Washington’s escalating campaign in what Trump calls “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic.

The U.S. has increasingly deployed military reinforcements to the region amid unspecified threats from Iran in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal last year from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it “will draw largely on assets already in the region.” It said the Royal Navy will work alongside the U.S. Navy to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which sits at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a shipping channel for one-fifth of all global crude exports.

Two Royal Navy warships are currently in the region, the frigate HMS Montrose and the destroyer HMS Duncan. The Montrose is due to leave for planned repairs later this month.

Britain has been giving U.K.-flagged vessels in the region a naval escort since the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized a British-flagged oil tanker last month. Some Iranian officials suggested the seizure of the Stena Impero was retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

European nations have been reluctant to take part in the U.S. naval mission, and Germany has said it will not be involved.

Last month, then-U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the U.K. would join with European allies to form a “maritime protection mission” in the strait.