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MEOG Commentary MEOG
Iran captures oil tanker, dragging UK into showdown with US
Iran
IrAn on July 19 dragged the UK further into its escalating battle directed at what it describes as the US “economic war” waged against the Islamic republic by seizing two British-linked oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and forcing one into an Iranian port.
Perhaps sensing the UK government may be in a vulnerable phase given its ongoing transi- tion to a new prime minister and cabinet – and enraged that British royal Marines, acting on what Tehran says were essentially orders from Washington, grabbed Iranian tanker Grace 1 o Gibraltar on July 4 on suspicion it was shipping oil to Syria – Iran made good on its threat to cap- ture UK- agged or owned vessels.
Iran’s Islamic revolutionary Guard Corps (IrGC) said it had taken the British-flagged Stena Impero into Bandar Abbas port and – according to semi-o cial Iranian news agency Fars – briefly detained the Liberian-flagged Mesdar owned and operated by Glasgow-based rm norbulk before allowing it to continue its journey.
US President Donald Trump, who, seeking re-election in 2020 may be anxious about being pulled into an unpopular new military con ict in the Middle east, responded to the tanker sei- zures by saying he would be “working with the UK” on the incident and suggesting that the lat- est developments justify his harsher approach toward Tehran. “ is only goes to show what I’m saying about Iran: trouble, nothing but trouble.”
military escorts suggested
nicholas Burns, US ambassador to nato dur- ing President George W. Bush’s administration, suggested resurrecting a 1980s policy of having tankers accompanied by military escorts in the Gulf.
“We should form an international coalition of democratic countries to escort every single commercialvesselthroughtheGulf,”Burnssaid in an interview with Bloomberg. “ e Iranians are an outlaw, they’re acting like an outlaw coun- try, they’re trying to shut down one of the major waterways in the world and then hold us up on it and blackmail us.”
However, Iran says it is the US that is acting
like an outlaw country. Tehran describes Trump as a “rogue president”.
In May 2018, Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) it signed up to with Iran, the UK, France, Germany, russia and China.
e deal protected Iran from heavy sanctions in return for compliance with measures aimed at barring all paths it might take to develop a nuclear weapon. Giving short shrift to the unwritten rules of international diplomacy, Trump pulled out of the agreement even though there was no evidence Iran had breached the accord.
He said a broader and tougher nuclear deal should be struck that would also address Teh- ran’s support for militias across the Middle east that are variously enemies of Israel and Arab allies of the US. He then imposed the most pun- ishing sanctions Iran has ever faced to try and force Iran to the negotiating table.
In May, the sanctions regime was dramat- ically beefed up as the US announced it was seeking to drive all of Iran’s crude oil exports – essential to the Iranian economy – out of world markets. Tehran says that europe, and particu- larly the UK which is supposed to have a major in uence on US foreign policy given the “special relationship”, have done next to nothing to pro- tect Iran from the US “economic war”.
small craft and a helicopter
e Swedish owner of the Stena Impero said it “was approached by unidenti ed small cra s and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters” around 4pm London time. “We are pres- ently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran.”
The Brent crude price climbed more than 1.3% on the news of Iran’s actions against the tankers. Forcing up world oil prices by threaten- ing the secure passage of oil tankers traversing the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint and thus hit- ting the US motorist and Trump’s popularity, is likely one aim of Iran’s increasingly aggressive response to American sanctions.
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt – almost
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 29 23•July•2019