HOW THE HIGH-STAKES CONFRONTATION UNFOLDED

On July 10, the BP owned British Heritage, able to haul about 1 million barrels of oil (35 million gallons), was heading out of the Persian Gulf. It had planned to take on cargo at Basra

in Iraq but this was cancelled amid fears of attacks As it was passing the island of Abu Musa it was ‘harassed’ by three Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats The Navy frigate HMS Montrose had been shadowing the tanker from a distance in international waters. It gave the Iranian vessels verbal warnings. These were ignored so it pointed its guns at them. The Iranians backed off and the two vessels continued their journey