BRITAIN’S ANGER AT SEIZURE OF TANKER BY IRAN
▶ UK Foreign Secretary says Tehran broke promise to de-escalate tension
The UK said Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Arabian Gulf was a “hostile act” yesterday, as it rejected Tehran’s explanation that it seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released footage of the Stena Impero being boarded. As several speedboats sped alongside the tanker, an Iranian helicopter hovered over the ship’s deck and several men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons rappelled down a rope.
The video showed Iranian troops using the same method of boarding the vessel as British Royal Marines used to seize the Grace 1 tanker on July 4. UK authorities stopped the tanker, loaded with 2.1 million barrels of light fuel oil, on suspicion of breaching European sanctions on Syria.
The Stena Impero was captured on Friday evening, a day after Gibraltar’s Supreme Court said it would extend by 30 days the detention of the Iranian tanker seized two weeks ago.
British Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt called the incident a “hostile act”. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had expressed “extreme disappointment” at the incident just a week after Iran said it wanted to de-escalate the situation in the region during a phone call to his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif.
“Just spoke to ... Zarif and expressed extreme disappointment that having assured me last Saturday Iran wanted to de-escalate situation, they have behaved in the opposite way,” Mr Hunt tweeted yesterday.
“This has to be about actions, not words, if we are to find a way through,” he said. “British shipping must and will be protected.”
Mr Hunt said that the British government’s emergency response committee Cobra discussed the situation at length, and a statement will be made to parliament tomorrow regarding the UK’s next steps.
Earlier he said London’s reaction would be “considered but robust”, and it would ensure the safety of its shipping.
On Friday, Mr Hunt said the solution would be found through diplomacy and London was “not looking at military options”. Britain’s government said it had advised UK shipping to stay out of the Hormuz area for an undisclosed period.
Britain also summoned Iran’s Charge d’Affaires in London after Tehran’s forces diverted the ship in the waterway, causing a sharp escalation of tension with a key signatory of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
It follows weeks of threats from Tehran to retaliate for Britain’s seizure of the Grace
1, including by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran claimed that Britain’s actions amounted to “piracy”.
The EU and several European states have backed the UK in condemning the Iranian move and demanded the Stena Impero be released.
Iran’s IRGC impounded the supertanker saying it had broken “international maritime rules” and been involved in a collision with a fishing vessel. Mr Zarif told Mr Hunt that the ship must go through a legal process before it could be released, Iran’s
Isna news agency reported. This too echoed the UK’s position that the courts would decide the fate of the Grace 1.
Iran also briefly seized a second UK-flagged tanker before releasing it. Tehran also said that the Stena Impero was not loaded with cargo when it was stopped.
The owner of the Liberian-flagged and British operated Mesdar said the tanker had been boarded briefly by armed personnel, but was free to leave and that all crew were “safe and well”.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Tehran had not seized a second tanker in the Gulf, quoting regional military sources.
Iran’s port authority said the tanker was now anchored off the city of Bandar Abbas.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that the HMS Montrose had tried to intervene when alerted that the Stena Impero was being boarded but arrived too late to prevent the Iranians taking the ship into their territorial waters.
Lord West, a former head of the British Navy, said that he was “astonished’ that British ships were not getting sufficient escorts.
The UK’s much larger destroyer, the HMS Duncan, is heading for the region to bolster British forces. The HMS
Kent, another frigate, is also set to join the two British warships but will not arrive for some time.
Earlier this year, the US deployed a carrier group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln to safeguard maritime trade.
Mr Hunt told the news media that it is essential that freedom of navigation, the principle the underpins the world’s ocean-going trade, is maintained and that ships can move safely and freely in the region.
The US has previously warned Iran that freedom of navigation would be vigorously defended if there is a serious threat to international shipping.
The EU yesterday condemned the Iranian seizure, saying the move was of “deep concern”.
“In an already tense situation, this development brings risks of further escalation and undermines ongoing work to find a way to resolve current tensions,” its foreign affairs office, which represents the bloc’s 28 member states, said.
The German ministry said: “We call on Iran to release the ships immediately.”
In a statement, the French ministry said: “We call on Iranian authorities to quickly release the [British] ship and its crew, and to respect freedom of navigation principles in the Gulf.”
The ship’s crew of 23 comprises 18 Indian citizens, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino, the Philippines’ foreign department said yesterday. It would ask Iran to free the Filipino crew member, it said. India too said it would seek the release of its nationals.
The seizure was due to a collision with an Iranian fishing boat, Tehran’s state-run Irna news agency claimed yesterday. The British tanker report
edly caused damage to the fishing boat, then failed to respond to calls from the smaller craft.
According to Irna, the fishing boat informed Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation, which notified the Revolutionary Guard.
Operator Stena Bulk said on Friday the tanker had been “in full compliance with all navigation and international regulations”. Yesterday it said it was preparing a request to visit the crew.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and a large proportion of global energy supplies passes through the narrow channel every day.
The confrontation has caused concern around the world, with each new move bringing fear that a misunderstanding or misstep by either side could lead to escalation.
The seizure comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions between Iran and the US since America quit the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran with the aim of bringing oil exports to zero.
The US has blamed Iran for a series of attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran rejects the allegations.
The seizure comes a day after the White House said it had shot down an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz that posed a threat to USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship. Iran denied any of its drones had been struck.
Last week, a British warship in the Gulf warned off armed Iranian boats that tried to stop a UK supertanker.
Washington and several of its allies have blamed Iran for several attacks on tankers in the Gulf in recent weeks. Tehran has also claimed responsibility for the downing of a US drone.
On Friday, President Donald Trump spoke with French leader Emmanuel Macron, the White House said, with the leaders discussing “ongoing efforts to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon”.
Earlier this month, Iran purposely overshot the deal’s caps on uranium enrichment, aiming to put pressure on the remaining parties to make good on their promises to help prop up its economy. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which almost a third of the world’s oil is transported, if attacked.
The US has blamed Iran for a series of attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran rejects the allegations
With Iran’s seizure of the British Stens Impero tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, we are now just one mistake away from a serious confrontation. In spite of the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif’s recent assertions that Tehran is prepared to negotiate with the US, the regime has decided to further escalate a perilous situation – vindicating the Trump administration’s strategy of maximum pressure. This is the second time in just over a week that the UK has been the target of escalatory violence, after Iranian boats tried to impede a British oil tanker in busy international waters, before being warned off by a royal navy ship. Both incidents follow the seizure of an Iranian vessel carrying oil to Syria, in violation of EU sanctions, off the coast of Gibraltar. Alongside France and Germany, Britain has been trying to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after US President Donald Trump withdrew last year. With attacks on British vessels, Iranian foreign policy looks increasingly rash and erratic. That is why all countries must endeavour to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf, and defend freedom of navigation. However, while only diplomacy can avert war, Iran must be reminded that raids on commercial vessels will not be tolerated. Put simply, this cannot become the new normal.
Just days away from welcoming a new prime minister into Downing Street, and still committed to the nuclear deal, perhaps Britain is viewed as an easy target. In a measured statement, UK foreign minister Jeremy Hunt expressed deep concern about this “unacceptable” seizure, and promised “serious consequences” if the situation is not quickly resolved. The incident came just one day after Mr Trump vowed to “aggressively” defend vessels in the Gulf. Tehran knows it is no military match for the US and UK, and yet, as this case makes clear, it is now pursuing a strategy of escalatory tanker attacks.
The US is working on a multinational maritime effort to increase surveillance of, and security in, the vital waterways of the Gulf. Still, it is worth asking why the British-flagged Stena
Impero was allowed to sail, unprotected, through the Strait of Hormuz, following a series of threats by Iran against British vessels. Individual nations have a responsibility to protect and escort their ships, to ensure Iran is denied small victories of this kind. Meanwhile, shipping companies have been urged to avoid hiring private armed security for their ships, as the world tries to avert a serious escalation. Picking a fight with Britain will not help Iran in the long run, but that does not seem to matter to hardliners in Tehran. That is what makes them so dangerous. The international community must defuse the situation, seek the tanker’s return, and remind Iran that attacks of this kind will not be tolerated.