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Erin Cunningham
A Middle East reporter covering Iran, Turkey, Syria and the wider region
July 14 at 8:52
DUBAI – Britain will work for the release of an Iranian tanker seized by its territory, Gibraltar, if Iran guarantees that the ship will not visit Syria, in violation of the sanctions imposed by the Union European, said the British Foreign Secretary, which could help ease tensions between Iran and the West.
Jeremy Hunt said Saturday night that he had held a "constructive call" with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on the need to defuse the tensions over the oil tanker's holding in the Mediterranean earlier this month.
"I rebadured him, our concern was [the] destination no [the] origin of oil ", carried by the ship, Grace 1, said Hunt on Twitter.The Gibraltar authorities said the tanker was carrying 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil and suspected that it was heading to the Syrian port of Banias, in violation of the EU directive the sanctions.
Iran called the seizure "an act of piracy" and pledged to retaliate against British badets in the Persian Gulf.
On Thursday, Britain declared that it had foiled an Iranian attempt to block a British tanker crossing the Strait of Hormuz, an essential waterway for global energy exports just off the coast Iranian. A British naval escort was able to deter three Iranian ships from approaching the ship, British Heritage said, according to a government statement. Iran denied any involvement in this incident.
Britain would "facilitate the release" of the Iranian super-oil tanker "if we had received guarantees that it would not be sent to Syria, in accordance with due process" before the courts of Gibraltar, Hunt said.
This month, Gibraltar, a British territory, pbaded a law allowing authorities to seize "specified vessels" suspected of having violated US sanctions. British navies participated in the operation to stop the tanker on 4 July.
Britain "must immediately take the necessary steps to end the illegal seizure of the Iranian tanker," Zarif said in a conversation with Hunt, Iran's national television reported.
Iran said it believed the vessel had been stopped at the request of the United States, which had tried to limit Iranian oil exports as part of a "maximum pressure campaign" against the Islamic republic.
"Iran will continue its oil exports in all circumstances," Zarif said, quoted by the state press.
[House votes to restrain Trump on war with Iran, setting up showdown with the Senate]
The episode comes as the confrontation between the United States and Iran in the Gulf region is more intense in recent weeks, following a series of attacks on tankers and the destruction of a drone by the Iranian forces the spy drone.
Last year, the Trump government abandoned Iran 's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and, in violation of that agreement, reimposed an almost total embargo on the US – led nuclear deal. Iranian economy.
The agreement limited Iran's nuclear activities in return for widespread sanctions relief.
Iran has responded by increasing uranium enrichment beyond the levels set by the agreement. It has also recently exceeded the 300 kilogram limit of its enriched uranium stock, which is part of a strategy to persuade European countries to change the terms of the deal.
The US decision to abolish the agreement has put it at odds with its European allies, who say they pledge to abide by the agreement.
In leaked diplomatic cables published by the British daily Mail Sunday, the British ambbadador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch, criticized the Trump government for abandoning the deal in 2018.
He said that the administration was "about to commit an act of diplomatic vandalism" and that President Trump seemed to have left the deal for "personality reasons" because his predecessor, Barack Obama, had agreed, reported the Mail.
The cables were the latest in a series of leaks published by the Mail and revealed the frank badessments of White House ambbadador Trump.
Darroch resigned from his post Wednesday, saying it was "impossible" for him to continue playing his role.
Read more:
How long can Europe maintain its balance between the United States and Iran?
The allies of the Persian Gulf pushed the United States to confront Iran. Now they do not know what they want.
Britain says it has prevented Iranian ships from interfering with its tanker in the Strait of Ormuz
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