US secretary of state’s comment reflects tensions with UK over Iran nuclear deal
The UK must be responsible for the safety of its own ships in the Gulf, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said.
His remarks reflect unresolved tensions between Britain and the US over Donald Trump’s plans for a US-led military taskforce to protect international shipping operating off the Iranian coast. The UK is meanwhile seeking to assemble a European naval protection force.
Continue reading...The country's state TV has shown video of the crew onboard the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero. The Revolutionary Guards captured the ship, with its 23-strong crew, and took it to Bandar Abbas, one of Iran’s main military ports
Continue reading...Tehran says some of the Iranians allegedly spying for US have been sentenced to death
Seventeen Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the CIA to spy on Iran’s nuclear and military sites have been arrested, Tehran said on Monday, adding that some of them had already been sentenced to death.
The arrests took place over the past months and those taken into custody worked on “sensitive sites” in the country’s military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a press conference in Tehran.
Continue reading...Tehran signals it will not release British-flagged tanker until UK frees one of its vessels
The British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is under intense pressure to join US-led plans for an international maritime protection force in the Gulf as signs grow that Iran is preparing for a long standoff over the British-flagged tanker it has detained.
As Tehran signalled it would refuse to release the Steno Impero until the UK released an Iranian-flagged ship seized off the coast of Gibraltar a fortnight ago, the British government faced accusations it had failed to sufficiently guard its shipping in the Gulf.
Continue reading...Audio of an exchange between British and Iranian naval forces over Iran's interception of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday has emerged
Continue reading...Tory leadership rivals kept informed about spiralling crisis in the Gulf as ex-naval chief blasts government
Admiral Lord West: ‘our political establishment have been focused on the election of a new prime minister’
Boris Johnson will be tested by a major international crisis in his first days as prime minister, senior military figures and politicians have warned, after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in a move that raised tensions in the Gulf to new heights.
Johnson, who is expected to win the race to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader and be installed as the new prime minister on Wednesday, was kept informed about the spiralling crisis on Saturday by his rival for the top job, Jeremy Hunt, whom he is expected to reappoint as foreign secretary.
Continue reading...Video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shows speedboats pulling up alongside a seized British-flagged oil tanker. Troops wearing ski masks and carrying machine guns rappelled onto the Stena Impero’s deck from a helicopter. The ship, with its 23-strong crew, has been taken to Bandar Abbas, one of the country’s main military ports
Continue reading...With the seizure of a supertanker off Gibraltar, distracted UK government was set up by John Bolton as collateral damage
John Bolton, White House national security adviser and notorious Iraq-era hawk, is a man on a mission. Given broad latitude over policy by Donald Trump, he is widely held to be driving the US confrontation with Iran. And in his passionate bid to tame Tehran, Bolton cares little who gets hurt – even if collateral damage includes a close ally such as Britain.
So when Bolton heard British Royal Marines had seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar on America’s Independence Day, his joy was unconfined. “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” he exulted on Twitter.
Continue reading...Iranian state media have released footage of the seized oil tanker Stena Impero detained in the strait of Hormuz on Friday, marking a dramatic escalation in the worsening standoff in the Gulf. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have taken the British-flagged ship into port with its 23-strong crew, and Iranian officials claimed it had infringed maritime regulations
Continue reading...Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says Britain’s response will be ‘considered but robust’ if UK-flagged tanker is not released
The British government has warned that Iran is choosing “a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour” and advised UK ships to avoid the strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker as the crisis in the Gulf escalates.
The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be “considered but robust” if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he had earlier said the government was not contemplating military action.
Continue reading...The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be ‘considered but robust’ if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he said the government was not contemplating military action. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had captured the British-flagged tanker, announcing the move two weeks after the British navy seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar, on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in violation of an EU embargo
Grace 1 was impounded over claim it was bound for Syria – but diplomats knew there might be consequences
The morning after a group of 30 Royal Marines helped seize the Iranian-flagged Grace 1 in Gibraltar, tired Foreign Office officials did not look exactly jubilant. There was not exactly a sense of foreboding, but diplomats were aware of the wider bilateral consequences for British-Iranian relations.
Related: Hunt 'extremely concerned' as Iran seizes two British-linked oil tankers
Continue reading...UK government urgently seeking information after Stena Impero veered into Iranian waters
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed on Friday evening to have seized a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero, which suddenly veered off course and headed into Iranian waters.
The ship’s owners issued a statement saying that at 3pm GMT (7pm local time), the ship had been “approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters”.
Continue reading...The US has said that one of its warships brought down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
The incident was first revealed by Donald Trump, who said that USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, took defensive action after the drone came within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.
Continue reading...Labour MP raises fears British-Iranian woman being tortured into signing forced confession
Downing Street has urged Iran to allow the family of a detained British-Iranian woman to visit amid fears that she is being tortured to sign a forced confession after she was moved to an isolated psychiatric ward.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was moved to the mental health ward of Iman Khomeini hospital on Monday – a move that the family initially welcomed after months of calling for her to get medical treatment.
Continue reading...Revolutionary Guards will not allow family to contact her, according to Richard Ratcliffe
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained in Tehran for more than three years, has been transferred to a mental health ward where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have prevented relatives from contacting her, according to her husband.
Richard Ratcliffe said his wife was moved from Evin prison on Monday to the mental ward of Imam Khomeini hospital. Her father tried to visit her there but was repeatedly denied access by the guards, who also prevented him from calling his daughter, Ratcliffe said.
Continue reading...US intelligence fears vessel could have been hijacked by Revolutionary Guards
US officials suspect that a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker that stopped transmitting its location after straying into Iranian waters may have been hijacked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA said on Tuesday that the country’s navy came to the assistance of the Panamanian ship MT Riah after it had mechanical problems.
Continue reading...Prominent researcher Fariba Adelkhah was arrested in June, reports say
France has demanded immediate consular access to a senior French-Iranian academic who has been arrested in Iran.
Fariba Adelkhah, a prominent researcher in anthropology and social sciences based at the Paris political institute Sciences Po, is believed to have been arrested in June.
Continue reading...Arriving in Brussels on Monday, the UK’s foreign secretary said there was still time to save the Iran nuclear deal. European powers are trying to preserve the landmark deal, which the US abandoned unilaterally a year ago. Iran recently announced it would start enriching uranium beyond agreed limits
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt tries to reinforce nuclear deal abandoned by US
Tensions in the Middle East could pose an existential threat to mankind unless the Iran nuclear deal is maintained, Jeremy Hunt will say on Monday in his starkest warning since the regional crisis escalated two months ago.
Speaking ahead of an EU meeting in Brussels, the UK foreign secretary will try to underline the importance of the deal, which was abandoned unilaterally by the US a year ago, leading to an accelerating reciprocal withdrawal by Iran.
Continue reading...