U.K. Says Iranian Vessels Attempted to Block British Tanker in Persian Gulf
11 Julio 2019 - 01:09AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Rory Jones
DUBAI--Iranian ships attempted to impede the passage of a
U.K.-flagged commercial vessel through the Persian Gulf, the
British defense ministry said Thursday, a move that threatens to
escalate already high tensions in the region.
Three Iranian vessels tried to block the BP PLC (BP.LN)-run
tanker British Heritage in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday but
were turned away by the presence of a U.K. warship, the defense
ministry said in a statement.
The British Royal Navy frigate, HMS Montrose, issued verbal
warnings to the Iranian ships before they backed away, the ministry
said.
"We are concerned by this action and continue to urge the
Iranian authorities to de-escalate the situation in the region," it
said, adding that the attempt to block the Heritage's passage
contravened international law.
A spokesman for the ministry added that the British Heritage had
since left the Persian Gulf.
Sepahnews.com, an Iranian news website tied to the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps., denied the unit's forces had tried to
detain the ship.
Iranian officials have threatened to seize a British ship in the
Persian Gulf after U.K. special forces last week commandeered an
Iranian ship off the coast of Gibraltar. That ship was carrying oil
bound for Syria in what U.K. officials said was a breach of
European Union sanctions on sales of oil to the country. Tehran
denied that the tanker was headed to Syria and called its seizure
illegal because Iran isn't subject to a European oil embargo.
Iran's threats in the Persian Gulf have added another layer to
the drama unfolding around Tehran's breaches of limits of the 2015
nuclear agreement, from which the Trump administration withdrew
last year.
--Aresu Eqbali contributed to this article
Write to Rory Jones at rory.jones@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 11, 2019 01:54 ET (05:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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