Iran calls on Britain to release seized oil tanker immediately
Iran
called on Britain on Friday to immediately release an oil tanker that British
Royal Marines seized last week on suspicion it was breaking European sanctions
by taking oil to Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency
IRNA.
“This
is a dangerous game and has consequences... the legal pretexts for the capture
are not valid... the release of the tanker is in all countries’ interest,” the
spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, said.
Iran
has warned of reciprocal measures if the tanker is not released.
Britain
said on Thursday that three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker
passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which controls the flow of Middle East
oil to the world, but backed off when confronted by a Royal Navy warship.
Iran
denied that its vessels had done any such thing.
Tension
between Iran and the West has increased a week after Britain seized the tanker
and London said the British Heritage, operated by oil company BP, had been
approached in the strait between Iran and the Arabian peninsula.
Mousavi
accused Britain of seizing the tanker under US pressure. “Such illegal measures
could increase tensions in the Gulf,” he told IRNA.
For
decades, Shiite-led Iran and its US-backed Sunni Gulf Arab rivals have been
locked in proxy battles for predominance in the Middle East, from Syria to
Yemen.
Britain
is among European parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers,
which President Donald Trump pulled out of it last year, reimposing sanctions
on Tehran.
Washington
tightened sanctions from the start of May, ordering all countries and companies
to halt imports of Iranian oil or be banished from the global financial system.
In
retaliation to Washington’s mounting pressure, Iran has decreased its
commitments to the nuclear pact, in defiance of a warning by European
countries.
The
United States, Iran’s longtime foe, blames Tehran for a series of attacks on
shipping in the world’s most important oil artery since mid-May, accusations
Tehran rejects.
The
capture of the Iranian tanker comes at a time of sharply increased US-Iranian
confrontation in recent weeks. Washington has also dispatched extra troops to
the region to counter what it describes as Iranian threats.
“Foreign
powers should leave the region because Iran and other regional countries are
capable of securing the regional security,” Mousavi said.
“...Iran
has repeatedly expressed its readiness to hold talks with its neighbors to
resolve disputes,” he added.