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Tehran, July 5: Iran has on Friday criticized the United Kingdom (UK) “illegal” seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar and has demanded the immediate release.

According to Al-Jazeera news reports, a top-level Iranian foreign ministry official has “described the UK move as unacceptable” during a meeting with the UK ambassador – summoned in order to hear the formal protest.

In an official statement on Friday, the foreign ministry said the official “called for the immediate release of the oil tanker, given that it has been seized at the request of the US, based on the information currently available”.

On Thursday, British customs agents, police, and royal marines stopped the Graze 1 ship and seized it on suspicion the vessel carried out Iranian crude oil to Syria, a move that violated the European Union (EU) sanctions against the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.

White House national security advisor John Bolton praised the interception of the oil tanker. On Twitter, Bolton said, “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions.”

While the EU has banned oil shipments to Baghdad since 2011, unlike Europe and the United States, it has never seized any tanker vessels at sea.

Advisor on sanctions, Matthew Oresman, a partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman – a law firm- said, “This is the first time that the EU has done something so public and so aggressive. I imagine it was also coordinated in some manner with the US given that NATO member forces have been involved.”

“This is likely to have been meant as a signal to Syria and Iran – as well as the US – that Europe takes sanctions enforcement seriously and that the EU can also respond to Iranian brinkmanship related to ongoing nuclear negotiations.”

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