“The seizure of Greek ships by the IRGC (Guards of the Islamic Revolution) is unacceptable. “The United Kingdom is committed to the freedom of navigation and the safety of shipping in the Straits of Hormuz.”. This was answered by – Representative of the British Foreign Office when asked for the United Kingdom’s position on occupation of the two Greek tankers from the Guards of the Revolution, the elite corps of the Iranian armed forces.
It is worth noting that in July 2019 and Britain faced similar problems when the Revolutionary Guards captured two British oil tankers: the Stena Impero and the Mesdar. The second they released him almost immediately following instructions from the Iranian authorities. The Stena Impero though, since “The legal procedure was followed and the necessary investigations began”, according to the Guards of the Revolution, it was confiscated because “it did not comply with the international maritime regulations”.
Britain, like other Western countries, has argued that the seizure of Stena Impero was retaliation for seizure of Iranian Grace 1 super tanker near Gibraltar 15 days ago. The British then accused Grace 1 of violating EU sanctions against Syria.
Finally the Stena Impero released two months later, in September 2019.
At that time, to avoid similar incidents, the British Ministry of Defense decided to send Navy ships of the country which accompanied the British-flagged tankers as they crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
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