Iran has 'duty' to seize British oil tanker, urges senior commander amid 'economic war'

Iran has a “duty” to seize a British oil tanker if one of its own tankers detained by Royal Marines off Gibraltar is not released immediately, a senior commander of the country’s Revolutionary Guard urged today.

The call was condemned by senior MPs and came as the crew of the Grace 1 supertanker were being quizzed by investigators over suspicions it was being used to bust EU sanctions on Syria with a cargo of Iranian oil.

“If Britain does not release the Iranian oil tanker, it is the authorities’ duty to seize a British oil tanker,” said Revolutionary Guard Major General Mohsen Rezai, who is also secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, a powerful state body.

The vessel was seized off the Rock just after midnight yesterday and is unlikely to be released imminently as the probe could take weeks.

Julian Lewis, chairman of the Commons defence committee, criticised the warning from the IRG chief. He said: “This is exactly the sort of threat that one would expect from a gangster regime like that of Iran.”

A British Royal Navy ship, left, patrols near supertanker Grace 1
AFP/Getty Images

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “Iran’s actions in destabilising the region and spreading terror from Syria to the world is a threat to all of us. It’s right the Royal Navy is doing what it can to enforce the EU sanctions process.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said the ship was still being held by authorities in Gibraltar and added: “It’s a matter for their authorities now and they’ll launch an investigation and that will follow the usual process of a sanctions enforcement investigations.

"We welcome the action because it was enforcing the EU Syria sanctions regime. Our ambassador met with officials in Iran yesterday and reiterated that position.”

Seizing a British ship would hugely escalate the current tense stand-off between Iran and the West.

A Royal Marines vessel sails toward the Grace 1 super tanker in the British territory of Gibraltar
AP

Meanwhile the crew of the tanker were still being quizzed today by Gibraltar police and customs officials.

Twenty-eight crew members, mainly from India, are being treated as witnesses and not criminals, a spokesman for the British territory said today. Royal Marines from 42 Commando who stopped the tanker are no longer on board the ship.

A British Royal Navy ship, back right, patrols near supertanker Grace 1
AFP/Getty Images

Iran has accused Britain of joining the United States in a new “economic war” following the seizure of the tanker. It believes the US requested the seizure as part of its bid to curb Iranian oil exports after the country withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Official papers for the vessel said it was carrying oil loaded offshore from Iraq. But in their angry reaction yesterday — which included the summoning of the British ambassador in Tehran — the Iranians have admitted that the cargo was in fact their oil.

A Royal Marine patrol vessel is seen beside the Grace 1 super tanker in the British territory of Gibraltar
AP

The Gibraltar incident is part of the growing pattern of confrontation across the Gulf over shipments of oil from Iran. It has been described as a new version of the “tanker war” of 1980 to 1988 in the Gulf when tankers were targeted during the Iran-Iraq war.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the swift action by the authorities in Gibraltar and the Marines would deny valuable resources to President Bashar al-Assad’s “murderous regime”.

White House national security advisor John Bolton said the the US and its allies would continue to prevent the regimes in Tehran and Damascus from “profiting off this illicit trade”.

The Trump administration, which has pulled out of the international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme, has reinforced its punishing sanctions against Iran and last month accused Iran of attacking two oil tankers with mines. Days later an unmanned US drone was shot down by Iranian forces in the Gulf.

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