UK: Europe-led mission will protect vital shipping in Gulf

LONDON >> Britain announced plans Monday to develop and deploy a Europe-led “maritime protection mission” to safeguard shipping in the vital Strait of Hormuz in light of Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the waterway.

Briefing Parliament on the budding crisis, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt accused Iran of “an act of state piracy” that will be met with stern international resolve.

He announced precious few details but said Britain’s European allies will play a major role keeping shipping lanes open. Onefifth of all global crude exports passes through the narrow strait between Iran and Oman.

“We will seek to put together a European-led maritime protection mission to support safe passage of crew and cargo in this vital region,” he said.

“We have had constructive discussion with a number of countries in the last 48 hours and we will discuss later this week the best way to complement this with recent U.S. proposals in this area.”

He sought to put distance between Britain and its closest international ally, the United States. Washington has broken with London on Iran policy because of President Donald Trump’s rejection of the international accord designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the accord last year and reimposed harsh sanctions, which have had a severe effect on Iran’s economy.

The foreign secretary said the planned European mission was not part of the U.S. policy of exerting “maximum pressure” on Iran.

It was not clear which countries will join the protection force Hunt is discussing, or how quickly it can be put in place.

Iranian officials have suggested the seizure was in response to Britain’s role in seizing an Iranian oil tanker two week earlier.

Iran released new video showing the ship’s crew for the first time Monday, an apparent attempt to show they were unharmed. None of the 23 are British nationals. The crew is mostly Indian, and includes Filipino, Russian and Latvian nationals.

British Prime Minister Theresa May chaired an emergency security session to discuss how to respond to Iran’s actions.

May’s official spokesman, James Slack, said giving an individual naval escort to all U.K.-flagged ships is not an option because of the volume of traffic. But he denied cuts have made the Royal Navy too small.

“We have the largest military budget in Europe, and we are investing in a worldclass Royal Navy,” he said.

Maritime industry publication Lloyd’s List said there are currently no U.K.-flagged ships heading to the Persian Gulf and eight U.K.-flagged vessels anchored there after a government advisory to such vessels to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

The tanker crisis is unfolding in the final days of May’s leadership. The Conservative Party plans to name her successor Tuesday, and the new prime minister — either front-runner Boris Johnson or Hunt — is expected to take office Wednesday.

Friday’s seizure of the Stena Impero came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran as the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers unravels. The U.S. has expanded its military presence in the region, while Iran has begun openly exceeding the uranium enrichment levels set in the accord to try to pressure Europe into alleviating the pain caused by the sanctions.

IRIB NEWS AGENCY VIA AP In this photo released by state-run IRIB News Agency, which aired on Monday shows various crew members of the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero, that was seized by Tehran in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, during a meeting. The Associated Press cannot independently verify the condition of the crew members, but in the video they looked to be in good health and it didn’t appear as though they were being filmed under duress.