The return of the British navy | London sent a …

The UK government on Friday announced the dispatch of a second warship to the Persian Gulf to reinforce its presence in the region, after Iranian ships have attempted to prevent the pbadage of troops. A British tanker yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz. The destroyer "Duncan", currently in the waters of the Bosphorus (Turkey), will travel to the Persian Gulf to operate with the "Montrose", which on Thursday prevented Iranian ships from intercepting the British merchant ship.

The "Montrose" is expected to soon leave the area for maintenance reasons, but tensions with Iran have advanced the dispatch of its rescue and the two ships will remain in the region for a short time, as the Revealed the British media. "This will ensure that the United Kingdom, as well as its international allies, will be able to continue to guarantee the freedom of navigation of vessels on this vital trade route," said a spokesman for the British executive.

British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt stressed that the United Kingdom has a responsibility to protect its ships. "We must react to the extent of the threats we face," said Hunt, one of two Conservative candidates alongside his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to take the leadership of the Conservative Party and the head of the government. British at the end of the month.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, the Foreign Minister also stressed that his goal was to try to ease the tense situation in the Persian Gulf. "We want to do everything in our power to avoid any unintentional escalation, which could be very dangerous for the world," Hunt said.

Members of the British Royal Navy intercepted an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar last week on suspicion of transporting crude oil to a Syrian refinery, in violation of European Union (EU) sanctions. The Gibraltar police reported the arrest of the master and the first officer of this vessel after an exhaustive search of the ship.

Tehran asked Friday in the UK to release the tanker as soon as possible. Foreign Ministry spokesman Abas Musavi said the reasons the UK had seized supertanker Grace 1 were "irrelevant from a legal point of view", according to the report. official IRNA news agency.

The Iranian spokesman denied that the oil tanker of his country was heading for a Syrian distillery. "Grace 1 can not dock in Syrian ports because it's a supertanker," Musavi said. Moreover, even if they were addressed to the Arab country, it is badumed that European sanctions are not extraterritorial, said the diplomat. "Our question to the British is whether the Islamic Republic of Iran is under the sanctions of the European Union, if Europe imposes sanctions on oil (Iranian)?", A he questioned.

Iranian oil is from November 2018 under US sanctions, which adopted this measure after being unilaterally withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear agreement, a pact that still has EU backing.

Last Wednesday, US President Donald Trump accused Iran of continuing to secretly enrich uranium and warned that his country 's sanctions against the Islamic Republic "will soon increase significantly" after the US $. Tehran announces that its enriched uranium reserves exceeded the limit set by the 2015 Vienna Agreement.