[ad_1]
A A Whitehall source told the Telegraph: "It seems that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards boarded and took a British-flagged ship. This seems to be related to the events surrounding the tanker Grace 1. "
The British authorities seized the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar on July 4, suspecting that it was carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.
The fate of the oil tanker has been at the center of escalating tensions between the UK and Iran and has been perceived as a pawn in the stalemate between the Islamic Republic and the West. .
Why was the ship not protected against the Iranian threat?
The former head of the Royal Navy asked Saturday why British ships had been allowed to cross the Strait of Hormuz without military protection.
Lord West, the former 1st Maritime Lord, said it was "reckless" and "unacceptable" that British ships were pbading through the unguarded area of the Royal Navy, while the Iranians were threatening to seize ships.
However, he also acknowledged that any prohibition on British ships crossing the Hormuz Strait without an escort would be difficult to enforce, as the navy would have "too few" ships to escort them all.
An escort-only policy would have the effect of reducing the number of British merchant ships crossing the Strait, which would have repercussions on trade in an area crossed by one-third of the oil transported in the world.
In response to the seizure of the British flag vessel Stena Impero by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Friday, Lord West said: "What I find extraordinary is that we knew that the Iranians would try such a thing some days ago. This is not a surprise. The Iranians said very clearly that they had the intention to do it and they did it. "
He told Sky News: "I am absolutely amazed that we have not put in place some kind of red flag navigation control in the region, no tanker entering a clearly dangerous area without an escort, and I find that weird. that we seem to have ships doing exactly that. "
Lord West admitted, however, that the British navy had "too few ships" and would find it "extremely difficult" to provide such escorts for merchant ships.
Every day, between 15 and 30 British-flagged tankers cross the strait. Only seven Royal Navy ships, along with Royal Marines, provide force protection in the Gulf.
The United Kingdom had sent an extra ship into the navy to protect British-flag tankers that were crossing the Gulf last weekend after "specific" threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
HMS Montrose, a type 23 frigate, was already in the area. HMS Duncan – Britain's most advanced warship – was also sent.
HMS Montrose was sent Friday to help the Stena, but he arrived a few minutes too late, while he was already in Iranian waters.
British ministers should now face difficult questions about the decision to seize the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar on July 4, without ensuring that it could protect Britain-owned ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
[ad_2]
Source link
