Iranian forces hold UK-linked tanker as tension soars in Gulf

Bloomberg

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is holding a British oil tanker, after seizing it in the Strait of Hormuz amid soaring tensions in one of the world’s critical energy chokepoints. UK officials demanded the immediate release of the vessel.
Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said the UK-flagged Stena Impero crashed into a fishing vessel and had been taken to the port of Bandar Abbas for investigation. The 23 members of the crew will remain on board for safety reasons, IRNA reported, citing Allahmorad Afifipour, an Iranian maritime official. None of the crew members are UK nationals, he said.
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and other top British officials held an emergency meeting over the capture of that ship and a second vessel that was later released. Afterward, the Foreign Office said in a statement that “our response will be considered and robust and there will be serious consequences if the situation is not resolved.” It also advised that UK ships should “stay out of the area for an interim period.” Hunt later tweeted that Iran was retaliating against the seizure of an Iranian ship by Gibraltar.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said he will be “working with the UK” and suggested the latest developments justify his harsher approach towards Tehran. “This only goes to show what I’m saying about Iran: trouble, nothing but trouble.” France and Germany expressed their support for the UK, with both nations demanding the immediate release of the ship and its crew.
US Central Command announced it was putting in place “a multinational maritime effort” called Operation Sentinel that would “increase surveillance of and security in key waterways in the Middle East to ensure freedom of navigation in light of recent events in the Arabian Gulf region.”
A spokesman for Iran’s Guardian Council suggested that the move against at least one of the ships was in retaliation for the British seizure, off Gibraltar, of a tanker carrying Iranian crude earlier this month. A court in Gibraltar ordered the continued detention of the vessel, the Grace 1, for another 30 days, after it was held on suspicion of taking oil to Syria. Iran denies that was the destination.
“The rule of retaliation is something that’s recognised within international law and is used in relation to wrong measures taken by a government,” Guardian Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei told the state-run IRNA.
The second ship, the Liberian-flagged Mesdar, re-established contact with its UK-based manager and was moving away from the Iranian coast, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. There are no other UK-flagged ships currently in the Arabian Gulf, ship tracking shows.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the Mesdar “was only briefed on requirements for safe navigation and the observance of environmental regulations and allowed to continue on its course,” citing military officials it didn’t identify.