UK tankers were sitting ducks

Ministers face backlash for ‘turning down help’ from US to guard ships

MINISTERS were last night accused of a ‘major failure’ for not accepting US government offers of military protection in the Persian Gulf before a British oil tanker was seized by Iran.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the Pentagon had proposed a joint operation to protect ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz but were ‘not taken up’ on the offer.

But the Foreign Office labelled the claim ‘completely untrue’ and defence minister Tobias Ellwood denied the UK had ‘taken its eye off the ball’.

The UK flagged vessel, the Stena Impero, was boarded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Friday afternoon in Omani waters. Footage on Iranian state TV last night showed the oil tanker docked in the southern port of Bandar Abbas with an Iranian flag hoisted over it.

The seizure was seen as retribution after Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar three weeks ago for breaching EU sanctions. Last night senior Tories privately accused No10 of being ‘asleep on the watch’ amid claims a decision was made not to accept the US offer of help for fear of aligning too closely with the White House on Iran.

The UK is at odds with Donald Trump’s administration after Washington abandoned the Iran nuclear deal, which is still backed by the UK and the EU. Mr Duncan Smith told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday that there were ‘ genuine questions to be raised right now about the British Government’s behaviour’.

‘The fact is that we have seized an Iranian tanker. If something didn’t send an alarm signal that we needed to have serious assets or protection and convoying of our vessels in that area then I want to know why not,’ he said.

‘And I understand this from reasonable sources, that Washington had offered the UK Government... to use US assets to support British shipping and they were not taken up at the point. This is a major failure and the Government has to answer this charge very quickly indeed.’

Theresa May will today hold a Prime Ministerial meeting of the Cobra emergency response committee. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is also expected to make a statement to the Commons setting out the UK’s position and response, where he will face demands for further military assets to be sent to the region.

Last night, former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon told the Daily Mail: ‘We need to be part of an international force. Just because we don’t like Trump’s position on the nuclear deal doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work with the US. We will have to work with the US in order to safeguard this vital international waterway.’

And another former Cabinet minister said: ‘They just don’t seem to have prepared for what was inevitably going to happen. The Prime Minister, Jeremy [Hunt], Penny [Mordaunt] and the National Security Adviser [Sir Mark Sedwill] are all at fault.’ Defence sources indicated a decision to decline US assistance was made by No10.

‘The MoD’s job is to put forward a range of options and a decision is taken on that by the Prime Minister,’ one said. Mr Ellwood told Sky News the Royal Navy was too small to manage the UK’s interests around the globe, saying: ‘It is impossible simply to escort each individual vessel.’

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, the UK’s representative declared last night that the seizure of the tanker amounted to ‘illegal interference’ and accused Iran of ‘unacceptable and highly escalatory’ action. Iranian authorities claimed the ship had turned off its transponder after hitting an Iranian fishing boat and was detained after failing to respond to distress calls.

But British diplomat Jonathan Allen said there was ‘no evidence’ of a collision with a fishing boat. A recording also emerged yesterday of a Royal Navy ship that tried to intervene to avoid Iranian forces boarding the oil tanker.

During radio exchanges, an officer on the Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose told the Iranians: ‘Please confirm that you are not intending to violate international law by

‘It’s impossible to escort every vessel’