U.K. Says Iranian Vessels Attempted to Block British Tanker in Persian Gulf

By Rory Jones

DUBAI--Iranian ships attempted to impede the passage of a U.K.-flagged commercial vessel through the Persian Gulf, the British defense ministry said Thursday, a move that threatens to escalate already high tensions in the region.

Three Iranian vessels tried to block the BP PLC (BP.LN)-run tanker British Heritage in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday but were turned away by the presence of a U.K. warship, the defense ministry said in a statement.

The British Royal Navy frigate, HMS Montrose, issued verbal warnings to the Iranian ships before they backed away, the ministry said.

"We are concerned by this action and continue to urge the Iranian authorities to de-escalate the situation in the region," it said, adding that the attempt to block the Heritage's passage contravened international law.

A spokesman for the ministry added that the British Heritage had since left the Persian Gulf.

Sepahnews.com, an Iranian news website tied to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps., denied the unit's forces had tried to detain the ship.

Iranian officials have threatened to seize a British ship in the Persian Gulf after U.K. special forces last week commandeered an Iranian ship off the coast of Gibraltar. That ship was carrying oil bound for Syria in what U.K. officials said was a breach of European Union sanctions on sales of oil to the country. Tehran denied that the tanker was headed to Syria and called its seizure illegal because Iran isn't subject to a European oil embargo.

Iran's threats in the Persian Gulf have added another layer to the drama unfolding around Tehran's breaches of limits of the 2015 nuclear agreement, from which the Trump administration withdrew last year.

--Aresu Eqbali contributed to this article

Write to Rory Jones at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 11, 2019 01:54 ET (05:54 GMT)

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