{"id":17031,"date":"2019-07-11T09:22:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T09:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=17031"},"modified":"2019-07-11T09:22:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T09:22:01","slug":"irgc-rejects-us-claim-of-iran-attempt-to-seize-uk-tanker-in-persian-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/irgc-rejects-us-claim-of-iran-attempt-to-seize-uk-tanker-in-persian-gulf\/","title":{"rendered":"IRGC rejects US claim of Iran attempt to seize UK tanker in Persian Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"
The handout picture, provided by the UK’s Royal Navy, shows Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose performing a series of tight turns during exercise Marstrike 05 off the coast of Oman March 22, 2005. (Via Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has dismissed a claim by US officials that its naval forces tried to stop a British tanker in the Persian Gulf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early on Thursday, two American officials, who were speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, claimed that five boats believed to belong to the IRGC had approached the\u00a0tanker British Heritage at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz and ordered it to stop.<\/p>\n

The Iranian boats dispersed, said one of the sources,\u00a0after the UK\u2019s Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose, which had been escorting the tanker,\u00a0\u201cpointed its guns at the boats and warned them over radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other official also called the alleged incident an act of \u201charassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the IRGG rejected the US officials\u2019 claim, stressing that Iranian boats were carrying out their normal duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatrols by the IRGC\u2019s Navy vessels have been underway in the Persian Gulf based on current procedures and missions assigned to them with vigilance, precision and strength,\u201d said the Public Relations Department of the IRGC Navy\u2019s Fifth Naval Zone in a statement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn the past 24 hours, there has been no encounter with foreign ships, including British ones,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The statement further noted that the IRGC Navy\u2019s fifth zone has the power to act \u201cdecisively and swiftly\u201d and seize foreign vessels in the area it is tasked with patrolling if an order is issued to that effect.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Britain claimed Thursday that three Iranian vessels had tried to block the passage of its tanker but backed off.<\/p>\n

\u201cHMS Montrose was forced to position herself between the Iranian vessels and British Heritage and issue verbal warnings to the Iranian vessels, which then turned away,\u201d a British government representative said.<\/p>\n

Zarif: Such claims have no value<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also reacted to the allegations, saying they are merely meant to create tensions.<\/p>\n

Those who make such claims attempt to \u201ccover up their weak point,\u201d he added. \u201cApparently the British tanker has passed. What they have said themselves and the claims that have been made are for creating tension and these claims have no value.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"PressTV-Iran<\/a><\/p>\n
PressTV-Iran summons UK envoy after \u2018illegal\u2019 tanker seizure<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry summons Britain\u2019s ambassador to the country after British forces seized an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar.<\/a><\/div>\n

The claims came two weeks after British marines illegally seized an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar under the pretext that the vessel had been suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions against the Arab country.<\/p>\n

Reports, however, said the seizure took place at the request of the US.<\/p>\n

The Islamic Republic condemned the illegal seizure as \u201cmaritime piracy\u201d and summoned the British ambassador on three occasions to convey its protest at the confiscation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The handout picture, provided by the UK’s Royal Navy, shows Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose performing a series of tight turns during exercise Marstrike 05 off the coast of Oman March 22, 2005. (Via Reuters) Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has dismissed a claim by US officials that its naval forces tried to stop …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17033,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031\/revisions\/17033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}