UK, allies work on safe passage after Iran seized tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Britain called Iran’s seizure of a UK-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz an “act of state piracy” and said it was joining with European allies to ensure safe passage in the international waterway as the first images emerged Monday of the Stena Impero crew on Iranian state media.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Parliament that the Iran Revolutionary Guard had no right to impede the tanker’s passage, board the vessel or seize the 23-member crew.
”It was therefore an act of state piracy,” Hunt said.
“We will now seek to put together a European-led maritime protection mission to support safe passage of both crew and cargo in this vital region,” he said.
Hunt said that Britain would discuss any operations with the US, which has bolstered its military presence in the region, but stressed that it would be distinct from the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it falls to Britain to secure the safety of its vessels.
“The responsibility … falls to the United Kingdom to take care of their ships,” Pompeo said on “Fox & Friends” when asked what role the US would play. “This is a bad regime. It’s not honoring the people of Iran. They have now conducted what amounts to national piracy – a nation-state taking over a ship that’s traveling in international waters.”
He said while the US has a part to play, the “world’s got a big role in this, too, to keep the sea lanes open.”
President Trump, who reimposed sanctions against Tehran after withdrawing last year from the 2015 nuclear deal, said it’s unclear where negotiations stand amid the recent developments because it’s a “very mixed-up country.”
”If they want to make a deal, frankly it’s getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran because they have behaved very badly,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re saying bad things. I’ll tell you it could go either way very easily. … And I’m OK either way it goes.”
Earlier Monday, Iranian state media published video and photos of the crew of the Stena Impero engaged in mundane activities, sitting around a table, preparing a meal, checking gauges and standing on the bridge.
The crew, many of them dressed in red coveralls bearing the name of the tanker, are still on the ship, the Iranian embassy in India told Reuters.
The ship’s seizure comes just weeks after British Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker, the Grace 1, in the waters off Gibraltar that it says was smuggling oil to Syria.
With Post wires