Iran's "totally and utterly unacceptable" seizure of a British-flagged tanker raises very serious questions for British and international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Saturday.
The Stena Impero was intercepted late Friday by Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard forces. The ship's owner, Stena Bulk, said the vessel was stopped by "unidentified small crafts and a helicopter" during its transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel was seized with a crew of 23 crew aboard, although none are British nationals.
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In a dramatic video released by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, several small Guard boats can be seen surrounding the larger tanker as it moves through the strait. Above, a military helicopter hovers and then several men wearing black masks begin to rappel onto the ship.
The high-quality video was shot with at least two cameras, one from a speed boat-like vessel and one from the chopper, which captured the fatigue-clad men as they prepared to slide down a rope and also took aerial footage of the tanker.
The British government's emergency response committee COBRA discussed the situation at length and a statement will be made to parliament on Monday on further measures Britain will take, he told reporters.
Hunt warned Tehran there would be "serious consequences" should the Shiite republic refuse to release the ship from its custody.
A spokesperson later said in a statement that the British government remains "in close contact with our international partners and there will be further meetings over the weekend."
The seizure prompted condemnation from the UK and its European allies as they continue to call for a de-escalation of tensions in the critical waterway.
On Twitter, Saturday, Hunt said he spoke with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and expressed extreme disappointment that the Iranian diplomat had assured him Iran wanted to de-escalate the situation but "they have behaved in the opposite way."
British ministers are making plans aimed at targeting Iran with sanctions in the aftermath of the Iranian seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
Britain could push for UN and EU sanctions to be reimposed on Iran after they had been lifted in 2016 following a deal on Iran's nuclear program, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph's report.
Britain told the UN Security Council late on Saturday that a British-flagged tanker seized by Iran was approached by Iranian forces when it was in Omani territorial waters and the action "constitutes illegal interference."
"The ship was exercising the lawful right of transit passage in an international strait as provided for under international law," Britain's UN mission wrote to the Security Council. "International law requires that the right of transit passage shall not be impeded, and therefore the Iranian action constitutes illegal interference."
The letter, seen by Reuters, was also sent to UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Friday's action in the global oil trade's most important waterway has been viewed in the West as a major escalation after three months of confrontation that has already taken Iran and the United States to the brink of war.
It follows threats from Tehran to retaliate for Britain's seizure on July 4 of the Iranian tanker Grace 1, accused of violating sanctions on Syria.
"Current tensions are extremely concerning, and our priority is to de-escalate. We do not seek confrontation with Iran," the letter read. "But it is unacceptable and highly escalatory to threaten shipping going about its legitimate business through internationally recognized transit corridors."
Britain called on Iran to release the Stena Impero tanker and told the Security Council it was working to resolve the issue through diplomatic means.
Iran said its seizure of the British oil tanker was in response to Britain's role in impounding an Iranian supertanker first, senior officials said Saturday, as newly released video of the incident showed Iranian commandos in black ski masks and fatigues rappelling from a helicopter onto the vessel in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is of international importance because one-fifth of all global crude exports passes through the waterway from Mideast exporters to countries around the world. The narrow waterway sits between Iran and Oman.
Hunt said the ship's seizure shows worrying signs Iran may be choosing a dangerous and destabilizing path. He also defended the British-assisted seizure of Iran's supertanker two weeks ago as a "legal" move because the vessel was suspected of breaching European Union sanctions on oil shipments to Syria.
Iranian officials "see this as a tit-for-tat situation, following Grace1 being detained in Gibraltar. Nothing could be further from the truth," Hunt said later Saturday.
The view from Iran was different.
In comments on Twitter on Saturday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif characterized the seizure of Iran's tanker July 4 as "piracy."
He claimed the confiscation of British-flagged oil tanker The Stena Impero by Iranian forces is to "uphold international maritime rules."
In another Tweet, Zarif referred to an interview with himself for News Hour that took place in New York on Friday. He wrote, "The people and government of Iran have nothing against the American people. All we want is for no one to interfere in our internal affairs."
Politician and former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezai wrote that Iran was not seeking conflict, "but we are not going to come up short in reciprocating."
The spokesman for Iran's Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was also quoted in the semi-official Fars news agency describing Friday's seizure as a legal "reciprocal action." The council rarely comments on state matters, but when it does it is seen as a reflection of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's views.
The tit-for-tat move by Iran drew condemnation from European signatories to Iran's nuclear accord with world powers. Germany and France both called on Iran to immediately release the ship and its crew, with Berlin saying the seizure undermines all efforts to find a way out of the current crisis.
Europe has struggled to contain tensions following US President Donald Trump's decision to pull Washington from a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for compliance on its nuclear program.
Trump has since reimposed sweeping sanctions on Iran, including its oil exports, and Iran recently increased uranium enrichment levels beyond limits of the deal in a bid to pressure Europe into finding a workaround the crippling economic sanctions.
Britain, which remains a signatory to the nuclear accord, has figured prominently in rising US tensions with Iran ever since Royal Marines took part in the seizure of the Iranian oil tanker by Gibraltar, a British overseas territory off the southern coast of Spain. Officials there initially said the July 4 seizure happened on orders from the US
Britain has said it would release the vessel, which was carrying more than 2 million barrels of Iranian crude, if Iran could prove it was not breaching EU sanctions. However, a court in Gibraltar just Friday extended the detention of the Panama-flagged Grace 1.
Stena Bulk, the owner of the seized British tanker, said the vessel's crew members are of Indian, Filipino, Russian and Latvian nationalities. Iranian officials say the crew remains on the tanker.
Britain's Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt told Sky News the takeover was a "hostile act" by Iran. She said a British Royal Navy frigate deployed to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz was roughly 60 minutes from the scene when the Iranians took control of the tanker.
That same frigate had previously warned off Iranian Guard vessels from impeding the passage of a British commercial vessel the navy was escorting through the Strait of Hormuz.
There are concerns that with each new maneuver a misunderstanding or misstep by either side could lead to war. In June, Iran shot down an American drone in the same waterway, and Trump came close to retaliating with airstrikes.
The US has increased its military presence in the Persian Gulf region in recent weeks, with Washington set to send more than 500 as well as aircraft and air defense missiles to Iran's rival, Saudi Arabia.
