BICOM

Iran’s Defence Minister described Britain’s seizure of an Iranian oil tanker last week as a threatening and incorrect action, according to Reuters.

Amir Hatami spoke about the UK action on Monday in a speech broadcast live on state television. It follows a threat by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander on Friday to seize a British ship in retaliation for the capture of an Iranian super-tanker by Royal Marines.

On Saturday, Mohammad Ali Mousavi Jazayeri, a member of the powerful clerical body, the Assembly of Experts said: “I am openly saying that Britain should be scared of Iran’s retaliatory measures over the illegal seizure of the Iranian oil tanker. We have shown that we will never remain silent against bullying … as we gave a staunch response to the American drone, the appropriate response to this illegal capture (of the tanker) will be given by Iran as well.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Moussavi said Tehran had told Britain’s Ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, that sanctions on Syria “are not based on Security Council” resolutions and have no legal validity.

Gibraltar confirmed on Friday that it had obtained permission from its Supreme Court to hold the tanker for up to 14 days because there were grounds to believe it was breaking sanctions by taking oil to Syria.

Iran has denied the tanker was carrying crude oil to Syria. At a press conference in Tehran over the weekend, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: “The tanker was carrying Iran’s oil … contrary to what the British government claims, its destination was not Syria. The port named in Syria does not even have the capacity for such a super-tanker to dock. Its destination was somewhere else.”

Araghchi, who accused Britain of committing “maritime piracy,” said the tanker was crossing the Strait of Gibraltar because its “high capacity” meant “it was not possible for it to pass through the Suez Canal” and claimed the tanker was intercepted in international waters.

The Grace-1 super-tanker, 300,000-tonnes and more than 1,000 feet long, was boarded by the Royal Marines in the early hours of Thursday morning and believed to be heading toward Syria in defiance of EU sanctions.