Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that two oil tanker violated their international maritime laws and regulations, prompting their forces to seize the tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s action signaled a rising tension in the strategic waterway.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that one of the captured ships was sailing under a British-flag while the other one is under Liberia’s flag.
The Stena Impero tanker “was confiscated by the Revolutionary Guards at the request of Hormozgan Ports and Maritime Organisation when passing through the Strait of Hormuz, for failing to respect international maritime rules”, the IRGC’s official website Sepahnews announced.
The tanker “was led to the shore and handed over to the organisation to go through the legal procedure and required investigations”, it said.
Hunt said the crew members consists of different nationalities but they believed that there were no British citizens included. He also claimed that the seizure is “unacceptable” and that “it is essential that freedom of navigation is maintained and that all ships can move safely and freely in the region.”
The tanker was believed to be captured by small crafts and a helicopter at 7:30 pm local time.
Stena Bulk, owner of the vessel, and Northern Marine Management said that they tried to contact the vessel but to no avail.
“We are urgently seeking further information and assessing the situation following reports of an incident in the Gulf,” a spokesperson for Britain’s Ministry of Defence said.
President Trump addressed the incident from the South Lawn of the White House on Friday.
“Well, as you know, we have a very close alliance with the U.K. and we always have. The U.S. has very few tankers going in because we’re using our own energy now. We’ve made a lot of progress over the last two and a half years,” Mr. Trump said.
“So, we don’t have very many tankers going in, but we have a lot of ships there that are warships and we’ll talk to the U.K. We have no written agreement but we have an agreement they’ve been a very great ally of ours. So we heard about it,” Trump added.
