We don’t want conflict over tanker, Iran tells Johnson
New PM congratulated by Tehran’s foreign minister at same time as he warns ‘we will protect our waters’
IRAN said yesterday it was not seeking confrontation with Britain amid a row over seized tanker ships but was prepared to defend itself, in a message directed at Boris Johnson.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, congratulated Mr Johnson on becoming prime minister at the same time as warning him that his country would do what it needed to protect itself from aggression in the Strait of Hormuz.
“It is very important for Boris Johnson as he enters 10 Downing Street to understand that Iran does not seek confrontation. But we have 1,500 miles of Persian Gulf coastline. These are our waters and we will protect them,” Mr Zarif wrote on Twitter.
Britain has demanded that Iran release Uk-flagged tanker Stena Impero seized in the Gulf on Friday, which came two weeks after Royal Marines impounded an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar on suspicion of it breaching sanctions against Syria.
Iran’s top diplomat claimed the move by Britain to detain the Grace 1 supertanker was orchestrated by Donald Trump, who has taken a hard line on Tehran since taking office.
“It was clear from the very beginning that the UK was doing the bidding for the Trump administration,” Mr Zarif said. “What the Brits did and what the Gibraltar authorities did in the Strait of Gibraltar was a violation of international law. It was piracy.”
But Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, indicated on Monday that the UK was spurning the US’S maximum-pressure approach by rejecting an invitation to join a Us-led naval protection force in the Gulf in favour of a European-led one.
Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran’s vice-president, said yesterday the creation of such a force would be provocative.
“There is no need to form a coalition because these kinds of coalitions and the presence of foreigners in the region by itself creates insecurity,” he said.
It was not clear how quickly the mission could be established or how many assets the UK could commit. The Government has already dispatched HMS Duncan, a Type-45 destroyer, to take over from HMS Montrose, due to arrive in the Gulf next week. France, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark support a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the strait, three senior EU diplomats told Reuters yesterday. Spain, Sweden, Poland and Germany also showed interest.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Penny Mordaunt, the Defence Secretary, says the latest incident shows the need to commit more money and resources into building up the Navy.
Tehran also said the seizure of the Stena marked the “end to British rule in seas” and made a sinister promise to monitor all Western ships passing
‘What the Brits did… was a violation of international law. It was piracy’
through the strait. The head of Iran’s navy said yesterday that Iran was closely observing “all enemy ships” going through the Gulf using drones.
“We have complete images and a large archive of the daily and moment-by-moment movements,” Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said.
In a video posted along with yesterday’s tweet, Mr Zarif warned Britain against engaging “in implementing the ploys of the B team”. Mr Zarif uses “B team” to refer to John Bolton, the US national security adviser, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Saudi and Abu Dhabi crown princes Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed, who want to the see the 2015 nuclear deal fail.
“We are responsible for the security and the freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, that is our lifeline,” he wrote on Twitter. “The B team is losing ground in the US and now they are turning their attention to the UK. I guess the same policies that failed in the US will fail the UK.”
Iran will this week meet countries still party to the troubled nuclear agreement, which Mr Trump walked away from last year. The July 28 meeting is aimed at salvaging the hard-won deal, on life-support since the US withdrew.