Washington, July 11: Around five ships belonging to Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has on Wednesday made attempts to illegally capture a British oil tanker in the Gulf waters, amidst tensions in the area, two US officials said.
According to ANI news reports, the Iranian IRGC’s boats tried seizing the British Heritage tanker when found crossing into the Hormuz Strait area, while passing through the Persian Gulf area, the officials said.
CNN quoted the officials as saying the Iranians had ordered the British vessel to change its way and make it stop nearby the Iranian territorial waters.
As the IRGC boats tried to capture the tanker, the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose, a ship which was escorting the UK ship from behind, immediately trained their deck guns targeting the Iranians.
It has asked Iranians to go back away from the British ship, which, after a while, they eventually did. The whole scenario was recorded by a United States aircraft when it was overhead.
On July 5, Iran has criticized the United Kingdom (UK) “illegal” seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar and has demanded the immediate release.
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.
Also Read: Iran condemns UK ‘illegal’ seizure of Syria-bound oil tanker in Gibraltar; demands immediate release