Two British women ‘held by Iran’ as UK condemns tanker’s Syria oil delivery
TWO British-australian women have reportedly been arrested and detained in Iran amid growing tensions between London and Tehran.
According to The Times, a blogger who was travelling with her Australian boyfriend and an academic who studied at Cambridge University were seized in separate incidents.
They are believed to have been incarcerated in Evin Jail, Tehran, where 41-year old Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe is being held. The mother of one is a British-iranian national who has been imprisoned in the country since 2016.
The latest incidents are thought to be the first time British passport holders who do not have Iranian nationality have been imprisoned in Tehran in recent years.
Tulip Siddiq, who is Mrs Zaghariratcliffe’s Labour MP, told The Times: “This terrible news shows a clear escalation of Iran’s hostage diplomacy. Soft diplomatic responses to Iran’s illegal and inhumane treatment of British prisoners have been a failure.”
The Foreign Office reportedly requested that the women remained anonymous and declined to comment further. It came as Britain accused Tehran of an “unacceptable” violation of international norms after it apparently broke a promise that an oil tanker detained off Gibraltar this summer would not deliver oil to Syria.
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, summoned the Iranian ambassador yesterday afternoon following reports that the Adrian Darya 1, which was at the centre of a diplomatic crisis after being seized by Royal Marines in July, had delivered a cargo of crude oil to the Syrian port of Tartus.
Britain says Iran repeatedly gave assurances that the ship would not deliver oil to any Eu-sanctioned entity before it was released last month.
Mr Raab said: “Iran has shown complete disregard for its own assurances.
“This sale of oil to Assad’s brutal regime is part of a pattern of behaviour by the government of Iran designed to disrupt regional security.”
The Adrian Darya 1, known as the Grace 1 until it was renamed by its owners last month, was seized by Gibraltar authorities and Royal Marine Commandos acting on intelligence that it was bound for Syria on July 4.
The vessel was released in August after a court in Gibraltar accepted assurances that the vessel would not breach the sanctions.
The Foreign Office said the delivery was an “unacceptable violation of international norms” and that Britain would raise the issue at the United Nations later this month. Iran condemned the seizure of the Adrian Darya 1 as an act of “piracy” and accused Britain of acting at the behest of the United States, which is trying to cripple Iranian oil exports.
In what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move, Iranian commandos seized the Stena Impero, a British flagged tanker sailing in the Persian Gulf in mid-july. Iran continues to hold the ship.