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Five Iranian Boats Approach British Tanker in Persian Gulf 3 Iranian Boats Tried to Block British Tanker in Persian Gulf, U.K. Says
(30 minutes later)
Five boats believed to belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps approached a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday and asked it to stop in Iranian waters close by but withdrew after a British warship issued a warning, American officials said. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Three Iranian vessels unsuccessfully tried to impede the passage of a British commercial vessel through the Strait of Hormuz, Britain said Thursday, signaling a further escalation of tensions over a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense had no immediate comment. The Iranian vessels only turned away after receiving “verbal warnings” from a British Navy vessel accompanying a commercial vessel, the British Heritage, the British government said in a statement. “We are concerned by this action and continue to urge the Iranian authorities to de-escalate the situation in the region.”
The incident occurred almost a week after British Royal Marines boarded an Iranian tanker, Grace 1, off Gibraltar and seized it on suspicion that it was breaking sanctions by taking oil to Syria. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran denied the allegations, saying that if it had received orders to seize a ships, it would have executed them immediately.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said Britain would face “consequences” over the seizure of the Iranian tanker. The semiofficial Fars news agency carried a statement from the Revolutionary Guard’s Navy early Thursday saying “there were no clashes with alien boats, especially English boats.”
Tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies have risen sharply since Washington stepped up economic sanctions against Iran and moved to bring the country’s oil exports to zero as part of a “maximum pressure” policy to make Iran halt actions that it said undermined regional security. The episode was reported a day after President Hassan Rouhani of Iran warned that Britain would face “repercussions” over the seizure of an Iranian supertanker last week that authorities in Gibraltar suspect was breaching European sanctions on oil shipments to Syria.
Iran has responded to the sanctions by starting to breach limits put on its nuclear activities under a 2015 deal with world powers. Mr. Rouhani was quoted by Iranian state media as saying the seizure was “mean and wrong.”
Several oil tankers were attacked in waters near Iran’s southern coast in May and June, for which the United States blamed Iran. Tehran denied any involvement. Iran had earlier summoned the British ambassador over what it called the “illegal interception” of the ship.
Last month, Iran shot down an American drone near the Strait of Hormuz, prompting President Trump to order retaliatory airstrikes, only to call them off. Tensions in the Persian Gulf over the nuclear deal have ratcheted up significantly in recent months. The United States withdrew from the nuclear accord last year, and the restoration of heavy sanctions on Iran, including those targeting its oil industry, has exacerbated an economic crisis that has sent the currency plummeting.
The American officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Wednesday’s incident happened as British Heritage was at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz. The United States has sent thousands of troops, an aircraft carrier, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to the Middle East. That has led to fears are growing of a wider conflict after mysterious oil tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz attributed to Iran, attacks by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen on Saudi Arabia, and Iran’s downing of an American military drone.
“The Royal Navy HMS Montrose, which was also there, pointed its guns at the boats and warned them over radio, at which point they dispersed,” one of the officials said. So far, the remaining parties to the nuclear deal — Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and the European Union — have been unable to meet Tehran’s demands for enough economic assistance to offset the American sanctions.
“It was harassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage,” the other official said. In recent weeks, Iran began breaching the limits of the deal, both on the permitted stockpile of low-enriched uranium and the permitted level of uranium enrichment.
The United States hopes to enlist allies over the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday. It also set an early September deadline for world powers to save the agreement, saying it would otherwise take a third step in going beyond the deal’s limits.
Iran maintains it is justified in breaching the limitations because the United States withdrew from the deal last year.