{"id":40295,"date":"2019-07-29T14:22:55","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T14:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40295"},"modified":"2019-07-29T14:22:55","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T14:22:55","slug":"uk-warship-arrives-in-gulf-to-escort-tankers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40295","title":{"rendered":"UK warship arrives in Gulf to escort tankers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nLONDON: Iranian forces threatened a British warship\u2019s crew against putting their \u201clife in danger\u201d during the seizure of a tanker this month, in a new recording of the incident.<\/p>\n

\nThe audio and video footage was released Monday by Iran, as a second UK warship arrived in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping.<\/p>\n

\nIran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the British-flagged tanker \u201cStena Impero\u201d on July 19.<\/p>\n

\nIn the audio a British Navy officer can be heard saying it is in international waters escorting a merchant vessel after the Iranians warn them away from the tanker.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cBritish warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah navy patrol boat: you are required not to interfere in this issue,\u201d an Iranian officer can be heard saying in the recording aired on state TV.<\/p>\n

\nAn officer on board the warship responds: \u201cThis is British warship Foxtrot 236: I am in vicinity of an internationally recognised strait with a merchant vessel in my vicinity conducting transit passage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Iranian officer replies: \u201cBritish warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah navy patrol boat: don’t put your life in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIranian state television also released recordings of another incident on July 10.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis is British warship Foxtrot 236, go ahead,\u201d a British naval officer can be heard saying.<\/p>\n

\nHis Iranian counterpart responds by saying: \u201cBritish warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah navy warship… your tanker British Heritage under my control. You are ordered do not to interference in my operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBritain said on July 11 that three Iranian vessels attempted to \u201cimpede the passage\u201d of the \u201cBritish Heritage\u201d commercial oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\nOn Monday, the UK\u2019s defense ministry said the destroyer HMS Duncan had arrived in the Gulf to join the frigate HMS Montrose.<\/p>\n

\nThe Montrose is due to undergo maintenance in nearby Bahrain in late August. It will be replaced by another frigate, HMS Kent, later this year.<\/p>\n

\nBritain has said it wants to establish a European-led maritime protection force in the Gulf to protect vulnerable shipping, while emphasising it is not seeking a confrontation with Iran.<\/p>\n

\n

\n.@HMSDuncan<\/a> has arrived in the Gulf, where she will support the safe passage of British-flagged ships along with @HMS_MONTROSE<\/a>, which has already accompanied 35 merchant vessels. Read more: https:\/\/t.co\/6kHvZ1Jw2A<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/9nj8tMY3Ut<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ministry of Defence\u00a0(@DefenceHQ) July 28, 2019<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nIt has asked UK-flagged ships to give it notice when they plan to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with HMS Montrose already having accompanied 35 merchant vessels during 20 separate transits, according to the Royal Navy.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased that HMS Duncan will continue HMS Montrose\u2019s fine work in helping to secure this essential route,\u201d Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhile we continue to push for a diplomatic resolution that will make this possible again without military accompaniment, the Royal Navy will continue to provide a safeguard for UK vessels until this is the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nTensions have been escalating in the region for weeks, with US President Donald Trump last month calling off at the last minute an air strike on Iran over its downing of a US spy drone.<\/p>\n

\nTehran has suggested the July 19 seizing of the tanker was in retaliation for UK Royal Marines helping Gibraltar authorities detain an Iranian tanker in the Mediterranean Sea two weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

\nBritain said it had acted then because Iran was trying to deliver oil to Syria in violation of separate sets of EU and US sanctions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON: Iranian forces threatened a British warship\u2019s crew against putting their \u201clife in danger\u201d during the seizure of a tanker this month, in a new recording of the incident. The audio and video footage was released Monday by Iran, as a second UK warship arrived in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping. Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}