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Tanker seizure shows Iran choosing ‘dangerous path’: UK
LONDON, July 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
said Saturday that Tehran’s seizure of a UK-flagged oil tanker showed
“worrying signs Iran may be choosing a dangerous path of illegal and
destabilising behaviour”.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday it had seized the
Swedish-owned Stena Impero in the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz for breaking
“international maritime rules”.
The incident came hours after a court in the British overseas territory of
Gibraltar said it would extend by 30 days the detention of Grace 1, an
Iranian tanker seized two weeks ago in an operation aided by British Royal
Marines on allegations of breaching EU sanctions against Syria.
Hunt said on Twitter that seizing the Stena Impero showed “worrying signs
Iran may be choosing a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour
after Gibraltar’s LEGAL detention of oil bound for Syria.
“Our reaction will be considered but robust. We have been trying to find a
way to resolve Grace 1 issue but WILL ensure the safety of our shipping.”
British cabinet minister James Brokenshire said the seizure of the tanker
was “completely intolerable” and said London was still seeking to establish
diplomatic connections with Tehran over the incident.
“The actions of the Iranians is completely unacceptable. It is so
important that we maintain this free navigation through the Gulf,” the
housing secretary told BBC radio.
“We want to see this matter resolved in a diplomatic way. The Iranians
need to release this vessel as quickly as possible.”
David Richards, the professional head of Britain’s armed forces from 2010
to 2013, said Britain’s options were “pretty limited” in what military action
it could take without the support of allies such as the United States, should
economic sanctions fail to resolve the situation.
“The Royal Navy, if you’re looking at that in the first instance, is just
too small to have a significant effect without being with allies,” he told
BBC radio.
The Stena Impero had been heading for Saudi Arabia on Friday when it
collided with a fishing vessel, according to authorities at the southern
Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, off which the tanker is now anchored.
Tom Tugendhat, who chairs parliament’s cross-party foreign affairs
scrutiny panel, said military options would now be “extremely unwise”.
“If it has been taken to Bandar Abbas then that’s an important Iranian
military port and I think any military options will therefore be extremely
unwise,” the MP told BBC radio.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1540 hrs