TEHRAN: Tension mounts as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it seized the Stena Impero, a British-flagged oil tanker, in the Strait of Hormuz, alleging that it collided with a fishing vessel. The United Kingdom has called on Iran to release the oil tanker and and its crew- 18 Indians, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino - immediately, describing the seizure as illegal.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commandos rappelled from helicopters and seized the tanker on 12 July in apparent retaliation for the British capture of an Iranian tanker two weeks ago. Footage showed the British tanker docked in an Iranian port - with Iran's flag hoisted atop. While Iran's official line is that its capture of the oil tanker was because of safety issues, it has done little to hide that the move was retaliatory.
"The ship was seized under false and illegal pretences and the Iranians should release it and its crew immediately," British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said. "We do not seek confrontation with Iran but it is unacceptable and highly escalatory to seize a ship going about legitimate business through internationally recognised shipping lanes."
"We are going to be looking at a series of options," Tobias Ellwood, junior defence minister said. "We will be speaking with our colleagues, our international allies, to see what can actually be done," he added. "Our first and most important responsibility is to make sure we get a solution to the issue to do with the current ship, make sure other British-flagged ships are safe to operate in these waters and then look at the wider picture."
Serious consequences
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned of "serious consequences" if the issue was not resolved quickly. He added, "we're not looking at military options, we are looking at a diplomatic way to resolve the situation." Followed to the incidence, London warned British ships to avoid the Hormuz Strait for "an interim period". "We remain deeply concerned about Iran's unacceptable actions which represent a clear challenge to international freedom of navigation," a government spokeswoman said after an overnight meeting of the government's COBRA emergencies committee.
But experts on the region say there are few obvious steps London can take at a time when the United States has already imposed the maximum possible economic sanctions, banning all Iranian oil exports worldwide. The Iranian capture of the ship in the global oil trade's most important waterway was the latest escalation in three months of spiralling confrontation with the West that began when new, tighter US sanctions took effect at the start of May.
Release our sailors, India tells Iran
India has reached out to the Iranian government to help release 18 Indian crew members on board the British oil tanker. “We are ascertaining further details on the incident. Our (Embassy) is in touch with the Government of Iran to secure the early release and repatriation of Indian nationals,” said India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
