By Babak Dehghanpisheh and William Schomberg GENEVA\/LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) \u2013 Britain denounced the Iranian seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf as a \u201chostile act\u201d on Saturday, rejecting Tehran\u2019s explanation that it had seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards posted a video online showing speedboats pulling up alongside the Stena Impero tanker, its name clearly visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troops wearing ski masks and carrying machine guns rappelled to its deck from a helicopter, the same tactics used by British Royal Marines to seize an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar two weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday\u2019s action in the global oil trade\u2019s most important waterway has been viewed in the West as a major escalation after three months of confrontation that has already taken Iran and the United States to the brink of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It follows weeks of threats from Tehran to retaliate for Britain\u2019s seizure of the Iranian tanker Grace 1, accused of violating sanctions on Syria.
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British Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt called the incident a \u201chostile act.\u201d Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had expressed \u201cextreme disappointment\u201d by phone to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Britain also summoned the Iranian charge d\u2019affaires in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier-General Ramezan Sharif, said Tehran had seized the ship in the Strait of Hormuz despite the \u201cresistance and interference\u201d of a British warship which had been escorting it. No British warship was visible in the video posted by the Guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s Fars news agency said the Guards had taken control of the Stena Impero on Friday after it collided with an Iranian fishing boat whose distress call it ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vessel, carrying no cargo, was taken to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. It would remain there with its 23 crew \u2014 18 of them Indians \u2014 while the accident was investigated, Iranian news agencies quoted the head of Ports and Maritime Organisation in southern Hormozgan province, Allahmorad Afifipour, as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zarif told Britain\u2019s Hunt that the ship must go through a legal process before it could be released, Iran\u2019s ISNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strait, between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, is the sole outlet for exports of most Middle Eastern oil, and the seizure sent oil prices sharply higher. The United States, which tightened sanctions against Iran in May with the aim of halting its oil exports altogether, has been warning for months of an Iranian threat to shipping in the strait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France, Germany and the European Union joined Britain in condemning the seizure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three big European countries are signatories to a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that Washington undermined by quitting last year, setting Iran\u2019s already fragile relations with the West on a downward spiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the pact, Iran agreed to restrict nuclear work in return for lifting sanctions. The European countries opposed the Trump administration\u2019s decision to abandon the agreement last year, but have so far failed to fulfill promises to Iran of providing alternative means for it to access world trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust spoke to \u2026 Zarif and expressed extreme disappointment that having assured me last Saturday Iran wanted to de-escalate situation, they have behaved in the opposite way,\u201d tweeted British Foreign Secretary Hunt. \u201cThis has to be about actions not words if we are to find a way through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier he said London\u2019s reaction would be \u201cconsidered but robust,\u201d and it would ensure the safety of its shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday, Hunt said the solution would be found via diplomacy and London was \u201cnot looking at military options.\u201d Britain\u2019s government said it had advised British shipping to stay out of the Hormuz area for an interim period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The past three months of escalation have seen the United States and Iran come as close as ever to direct armed conflict. In June, Tehran shot down a U.S. drone and Trump ordered retaliatory air strikes, only to call them off just minutes before impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In New Delhi, India\u2019s foreign ministry said it was actively seeking the release of its nationals among the crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Operator Stena Bulk said on Friday the tanker had been \u201cin full compliance with all navigation and international regulations.\u201d On Saturday it said it was preparing a request to visit the crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vessel had been heading to a port in Saudi Arabia and suddenly changed course after passing through the strait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States has blamed Iran for a series of attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran rejects the allegations. Washington also said it had this week downed an Iranian drone near where the Stena Impero was seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States is sending military personnel and resources to Saudi Arabia for the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. (Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, John Irish in Paris and Stephen Addison in London; writing by William Schomberg; editing by John Stonestreet and Peter Graff)
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