In this image from file video provided by UK Ministry of Defence, British navy vessel HMS Montrose escorts another ship during a mission to remove chemical weapons from Syria at sea off coast of Cyprus in February 2014. The British Navy said it intercepted an attempt on Thursday, July 11, 2019, by three Iranian paramilitary vessels to impede the passage of a British commercial vessel just days after Iran’s president warned of repercussions for the seizure of its own supertanker. A U.K. government statement said Iranian vessels only turned away after receiving “verbal warnings” from the HMS Montrose accompanying the commercial ship through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. (UK Ministry of Defence via AP)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Friday demanded the British navy release an Iranian oil tanker seized last week off Gibraltar, accusing London of playing a “dangerous game” and threatening retribution, while London announced it was sending a destroyer to the Persian Gulf.

The comments from Iran’s Foreign Ministry came the day after police in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain, said they arrested the captain and chief officer of the supertanker suspected of breaching European Union sanctions by carrying a shipment of Iranian crude oil to Syria.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told Iranian state news agency IRNA that “the legal pretexts for the capture are not valid … the release of the tanker is in all countries’ interest.”

“This is a dangerous game and has consequences,” Mousavi warned.

During Friday prayers, Kazem Sedighi, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened retribution.

“Rest assured, Britons will soon feel the slap of the powerful hands of the Islamic Republic,” he said.

The British navy said Thursday it had stopped three Iranian paramilitary vessels from disrupting the passage of a British oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard denied any incident had occurred in the strait.

That brief but tense standoff is believed to have stemmed from the British seizure of the Iranian tanker off Gibraltar on July 4.

On Friday, the British Ministry of Defense said it was moving up its timetable for relieve the HMS Montrose, a frigate operating in the Persian Gulf, with the larger HMS Duncan destroyer in the wake of the recent developments.

“This will ensure that the UK alongside international partners can continue to support freedom of navigation for vessels transiting through this vital shipping lane,” the ministry said.

At the same time, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for “cool heads” to prevail to ensure there is no “unintended escalation.”

“We are being clear to Iran that we are not seeking to escalate this situation,” he said, adding that the British response had been “measured and careful.”

The Iranian tanker intercepted last week was carrying 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil, the head of Gibraltar’s government said Friday.

A senior Spanish official had previously said the interception was carried out at the request of the United States, but Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told parliament no other government had asked the territory to act.

“These important decisions about breaches of our laws were certainly not decisions taken at the political behest or instruction of any other state or of any third party,” he said.

He said the ship is suspected of breaching European Union sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and that any nation with a claim to the vessel and its cargo can file a claim in court.

In addition to the tanker’s captain and chief officer arrested Thursday, Gibraltar police said they arrested the two second mates of the Panama-flagged tanker on Friday. The two are in custody and are assisting police with their inquiries, authorities said. All four are Indian citizens.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif scoffed at the accusation Iran was violating sanctions, which he said “are meant to stop Europe from buying Syria’s oil, they are not about another country selling oil to Syria.” Zarif spoke in an interview Thursday with the pro-Iran Lebanese satellite news channel Al-Mayadeen.

“This is a very childish and ridiculous excuse by the British,” he said “They should officially announce that we are servants of America and act on behalf of America. America has returned their favor well by insulting their ambassador and their prime minister.”

The tanker’s interception has stoked already high tensions in the region, as the Trump administration continues its campaign of maximum pressure on Iran.

The U.S. has sent thousands of troops, an aircraft carrier, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to the Middle East, and fears are growing of a wider conflict after mysterious oil tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz blamed on Iran, attacks by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen on Saudi Arabia and Iran’s downing of a U.S. military drone.

Iran has recently begun surpassing uranium enrichment limits set in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the accord a year ago.

The U.S. has also re-imposed tough sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports, exacerbating an economic crisis that has sent its currency plummeting.

Iran has said its breaches of the nuclear pact can be reversed if the other parties to the agreement — Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia and the European Union — can come up with enough economic incentives to effectively offset the American sanctions.

China on Friday reiterated it opposes unilateral sanctions against Iran and criticized what it described as the “long arm jurisdiction” of the United States.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing said that international trade with Iran “within the framework of international law is reasonable and legitimate and deserves to be respected and protected.”

“We will resolutely defend our legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” the spokesman added.

Rising reported from Berlin. Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Danica Kirka and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this story. </s> (CNN) Armed Iranian boats unsuccessfully tried to seize a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf Wednesday, according to two US officials with direct knowledge of the incident.

The British Heritage tanker was sailing out of the Persian Gulf and was crossing into the Strait of Hormuz area when it was approached by boats from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Iranians ordered the tanker to change course and stop in nearby Iranian territorial waters, according to the officials. A US aircraft was overhead and recorded video of the incident, though CNN has not seen the footage.

A British Ministry of Defense source told CNN that it "appeared that the Iranian vessels were trying to divert the Heritage from international to Iranian waters" before the British Navy ship HMS Montrose "got between them and issued a verbal warning to withdraw."

US officials said five Iranian ships approached the UK vessels. However, British officials said that three Iranian vessels were involved in the incident.

The UK's Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose had been escorting the tanker from the rear. It trained its deck guns on the Iranians and gave them a verbal warning to back away, which they did, according to the UK source. Montrose is equipped on the deck with 30 mm guns specifically designed to drive off small boats. UK officials had previously confirmed that the Montrose was in the region performing a "maritime security role."

In a statement, the UK's Ministry of Defense said that "contrary to international law, three Iranian vessels attempted to impede the passage of a commercial vessel, British Heritage, through the Strait of Hormuz."

"HMS 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," the statement said. "We are concerned by this action and continue to urge the Iranian authorities to de-escalate the situation in the region."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard denied that it tried to stop the British tanker, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday.

On Thursday, the British Heritage was seen moving through the Gulf of Oman along the Omani coastline, according to tracking platform Marine Traffic.

The British Heritage is a British oil tanker operated by British Petroleum. It was not carrying any cargo at the time of the incident.

The vessel left the Iraqi city of Basra on July 6 and stopped off the coast of Saudi Arabia on July 7, according to the tracker.

On July 10, the ship turned off its transponders for almost 24 hours, making it undetectable by radars. When it switched on its transponders at around 1pm Eastern Time, it appeared to have sailed through the Persian Gulf escorted by the HMS Montrose.

At the same time, concerns are rising in Europe and the United States after Iran began increasing uranium enrichment after saying it would no longer comply with the nuclear agreement it signed in 2015. The US pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018 and reintroduced economic sanctions.

The Grace 1 super tanker near a Royal Marine patrol vessel off Gibraltar on July 4.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned earlier Wednesday that the UK "will see the consequences" after Gibraltar officials and UK Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker bound for Syria last week, according to Rouhani's press office.

Rouhani, speaking in a cabinet session, said, "I tell the British that they are the initiator of insecurity and you will understand its consequences later."

US working to strengthen maritime security in region

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said Tuesday that the US and its allies were working to put together a coalition of countries to come up with a system to enforce freedom of navigation in the region amid what the US says are heightened threats from Iran.

"We had a discussion today, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and I and we are engaging now with a number of countries to see if we can put together a coalition that would ensure freedom of navigation both in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab el Mandeb," Dunford said following an awards ceremony for his Finnish counterpart.

"I think what we'll do is, we certainly from the United States perspective would provide maritime domain awareness and surveillance," he said, adding that naval vessels would escort commercial ships that shared a country of origin, if required.

"Escorting in the normal course of events would be done by countries who have the same flag so a ship that is flagged by a particular country would be escorted by that country and I think what the United States can provide is domain awareness, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and then coordination and patrols for other ships that would be in the area would be largely coalition ships," Dunford said.

Heightened tensions

The alleged Iranian attempt to seize the British tanker comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Earlier on Wednesday President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that sanctions on Iran will "soon be increased, substantially!" following news that Iran was enriching uranium beyond the limits imposed by the Iran Nuclear Deal.

President Trump signs an executive order imposing fresh sanctions on Iran in the Oval Office on June 24.

Last month Trump halted plans for a military strike against Iran in retaliation for the shooting down of a US drone, Trump said he found it hard to believe it had been an "intentional" act. "I think that it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid that did it," Trump said in the Oval Office on June 20.

The Trump administration has argued that the nuclear deal it abandoned in 2018, is inadequate as it doesn't cover Iran's ballistic missiles or regional activities.

Even though the International Atomic Energy Agency has found that Iran has complied with the deal, the US has re-imposed all sanctions in place before the deal and added new ones. Those actions have undermined the central concept of the deal -- that in exchange for controls on its nuclear program, Iran would see some economic relief.

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted Wednesday that the US has no standing to raise issues pertaining to the multilateral deal, due to the Trump administration's earlier decision to exit he deal.

US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told CNN Tuesday that the US is "looking for a new and better deal" to submit to the Senate as a treaty. </s> On Wednesday the commercial vessel British Heritage was passing through the Strait of Hormuz when three Iranian boats attempted to impede the British oil tanker, thus creating a crisis between Iran and the United Kingdom and deepening tensions in the vital shipping zone.

The latest series incidents has sent tensions between Iran and the US soaring. It also comes after the UK seizure of an Iranian oil tanker, for which Tehran has threatened retaliation. The next day the Ministry of Defense statement said, “Contrary to international law, three Iranian vessels attempted to impede the passage of a commercial vessel, British Heritage, through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The British warship HMS 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,”

On the other side, Iran has rejected the claims and the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) also issued a statement denying involvement. Then, the Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called the British allegations “worthless” in remarks to the semi-official Fars news agency.

A spokesperson for US central command, Captain Bill Urban, said, “We are aware of the reports of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp Navy’s FAC/FIAC harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the UK-flagged merchant vessel British Heritage today near the strait of Hormuz.”

CNN reported that a US surveillance aircraft recorded video of the incident. they mentioned the HMS Montrose, which was escorting the oil tanker, trained its guns on the IRGC boats and issued a verbal warning. No shots were fired.

At the same time Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned the UK it would face unspecified consequences as a result of the UK’s seizure of the Grace 1 oil tanker that was bound for Syria.

We are waiting for the coming period. What is happening with Iran? </s> Five Iranian ships unsuccessfully tried to seize a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf Wednesday - US officials say.

Armed vessels from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tried to capture the British Heritage tanker while it was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's ships reportedly ordered the British vessel to divert its course and stop in Iranian waters which it was sailing nearby.

British frigate the HMS Montrose was escorting the tanker and trained its guns on the Iranians before giving them a verbal warning to back off.

A US aircraft was overhead and recorded video of the incident as the Iranian ships then fled - according to CNN.

UK officials had previously confirmed that the Montrose was in the region performing a 'maritime security role.'

It comes after Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar last week, which Britain says was violating EU sanctions by carrying fuel to Syria.

Iran denies the vessel was bound for Syria and says the UK acted on behalf of the United States, which has separate sanctions in place against Tehran itself.

Senior Iranian politicians had threatened to retaliate by seizing a British tanker.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said in a cabinet session earlier on Wednesday that Britain would 'see the consequences' after the Gibraltar seizure.

In remarks broadcast on Iranian TV, Rouhani said: 'You (Britain) are the initiator of insecurity and you will realise the consequences later.

'Now you are so hopeless that, when one of your tankers wants to move in the region, you have to bring your frigates (to escort it) because you are scared.

'Then why do you commit such acts? You should instead allow navigation to be safe.'

The HMS Montrose is equipped on the deck with 30 mm guns specifically designed to drive off small boats.

The Montrose, based in Bahrain, also has radar that allows it to track aircraft and missiles up to 120 miles away, and a missile system with a 20-mile range.

The BP-owned British Heritage, had earlier halted to take refuge off the coast of Saudi Arabia following Iran's threat.

Earlier this week, British tanker Pacific Voyager, which sails under the Isle of Man flag, was escorted through the Strait of Hormuz by HMS Montrose, a Type-23 frigate, on Tuesday. </s> TEHRAN - Australia has joined Great Britain and Bahrain in signing onto a U.S.-led maritime security mission that the U.S. claimed is aimed at protecting international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, but Tehran believes the real reason for it is to threaten its interests in the Persian Gulf.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday that Australia will contribute troops, a surveillance plane and a Navy frigate off the coast of Iran.

“The government has decided that it is in Australia’s national interest to work with our international partners to contribute. Our contribution will be limited in scope and it will be time-bound,” Aljazeera quoted him as saying.

Morrison said Australia will send a P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane to the Middle East for one month before the end of the year, while an Australian frigate will be deployed in January 2020 for six months.

Australia’s deployment will expand U.S.-led efforts to secure the strait, which lies between Oman and Iran, after tensions spiked between Tehran and the United States.

At least 15 percent of crude oil and up to 30 percent of refined oil destined for Australia transits through the Persian Gulf.

The friction is rooted in U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in May 2018 to unilaterally withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal signed in 2015 between world powers and Iran.

Since then, the U.S. has reinstated sweeping sanctions against Tehran as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign and has also beefed up its military presence in the region.

The tensions escalated in May, when the U.S. accused Iran of sabotaging tankers in the shipping route, allegations vehemently denied by Iran.

UK’s Ministry of Defense announced this month that Royal Navy vessels will work alongside the U.S. Navy to escort vessels through the busy strait.

Britain has been giving UK-flagged vessels a naval escort since Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized a British oil tanker last month. The move followed the seizing of an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar in July by Britain.

Earlier this month, Germany ruled out participating in the U.S.-led mission, prompting a frustrated response from U.S. officials.

Last week, Iran warned Israel against supporting the mission, saying it reserved the right to confront a “clear threat”.

In June, Iran downed a U.S. military surveillance drone in the Persian Gulf with a surface-to-air missile. The drone violated Iran’s airspace. </s> Five boats believed to belong to Iranian Revolutionary Guards approached a British oil tanker in the Gulf on Wednesday and asked it to stop in Iranian waters close by, but withdrew after a British warship warned them over radio, according to US defence officials.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the incident on Wednesday happened as British Heritage tanker was at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Royal Navy HMS Montrose, which was also there, pointed it guns at the boats and warned them over radio, at which point they dispersed,” one of the officials said.

“It was harassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage,” the other official said.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence had no immediate comment.

A spokesman for US central command, Captain Bill Urban, said: “We are aware of the reports of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp Navy’s FAC/FIAC harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the UK-flagged merchant vessel British Heritage today near the Strait of Hormuz.”

CNN reported that a US surveillance aircraft recorded video of the incident. It said the HMS Montrose, which was escorting the oil tanker, trained its guns on the IRG boats and issued a verbal warning.

Last week a former leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the Islamic Republic should consider seizing a British oil tanker in response to the UK military detaining an Iranian vessel off the coast of Gibraltar.

Mohsen Rezaei, who led the Guard during Iran’s 1980s “tanker war” in the Persian Gulf, made the comments the day after nearly 30 Royal Marines were deployed to impound the oil tanker Grace 1.

“If England does not release the Iranian oil tanker, the duty ... [of Iran] is to respond and seize one English oil tanker,” Rezaei said on Friday.

Tehran has been accused of sabotaging oil tankers in the strait of Hormuz in an attempt at economic retaliation against the US after Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on Iran. </s> TEHRAN, Iran — Britain said Monday that it would join a U.S.-led naval security mission in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran's seizure of merchant vessels has raised tensions with the West. Earlier, Iran's foreign minister lambasted recent U.S. financial sanctions against him, calling the move a "failure" for diplomacy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Tehran that "imposing sanctions against a foreign minister means failure" for any efforts at negotiations, and means the side imposing the measures is "opposing talks."

The U.S. administration last week announced sanctions on Zarif, a month after President Donald Trump had imposed similar sanctions on Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The moves are seen as part of Washington's escalating campaign in what Trump calls "maximum pressure" on the Islamic Republic.

The U.S. has increasingly deployed military reinforcements to the region amid unspecified threats from Iran in the wake of Trump's withdrawal last year from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Britain's Ministry of Defense said it "will draw largely on assets already in the region." It said the Royal Navy will work alongside the U.S. Navy to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which sits at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a shipping channel for one-fifth of all global crude exports.

Two Royal Navy warships are currently in the region, the frigate HMS Montrose and the destroyer HMS Duncan. The Montrose is due to leave for planned repairs later this month.

Britain has been giving U.K.-flagged vessels in the region a naval escort since the Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a British-flagged oil tanker last month. Some Iranian officials suggested the seizure of the Stena Impero was retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

European nations have been reluctant to take part in the U.S. naval mission, and Germany has said it will not be involved.

Last month, then-U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that the U.K. would join with European allies to form a "maritime protection mission" in the strait.

Hunt has since lost his job, and that effort appears to have foundered. Britain's Ministry of Defense said the U.S. and the U.K. hoped other countries will join the new mission.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, said Britain was still seeking an international coalition, though he did not say who would be in it.

Zarif had stressed Monday that Washington's policy of "talking about war as an option that remains on the table cannot stand."

Zarif's press conference came a day after Iran announced its forces had seized a foreign ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel, but provided no details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew. It was the Revolutionary Guard's third seizure of a vessel in recent weeks and the latest show of strength by the paramilitary force amid the spike in tensions.

Six oil tankers have also been targeted in the Gulf of Oman in unclaimed acts of sabotage that the U.S. blames on Iran. Iran has denied any involvement in those attacks.

In June, Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump came close to retaliating, but called off an airstrike at the last moment.

Maritime security in the region was further jolted in mid-July, when the Revolutionary Guard's naval forces confirmed they had seized a United Arab Emirates-based oil tanker, the Panamanian-flagged MT Riah, for allegedly smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers.

Britain and other European nations have distanced themselves from the American "maximum pressure" strategy. Unlike the U.S., European countries still adhere to the international nuclear deal.

Iran recently began surpassing uranium enrichment limits set in the 2015 deal, but says these moves can be reversed if given enough economic incentives to offset U.S. sanctions.

Referring to the seizure of the British tanker, Zarif said Monday that it was not a reciprocal action for Gibraltar. He also told reporters he had received an invitation from Washington for a meeting during his New York trip in July, along with a warning about the sanctions.

U.S. officials have not confirmed either of Zarif's claims — neither the one about him being warned about the sanctions nor the one about the alleged invitation for talks. </s> The British Heritage tanker was sailing out of the Persian Gulf and was crossing into the Strait of Hormuz area when it was approached by the Iranian boats. The Iranians ordered the tanker to change course and stop in nearby Iranian territorial waters, according to the officials. A US aircraft was overhead and recorded video of the incident.

The UK's Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose had been escorting the tanker from the rear. It trained its deck guns on the Iranians and gave them a verbal warning to back away, which they did. Montrose is equipped on the deck with 30 mm guns specifically designed to drive off small boats.

UK officials had previously confirmed that the Montrose was in the region performing a "maritime security role."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned earlier Wednesday that the UK "will see the consequences" after Gibraltar officials and UK Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker bound for Syria last week, according to Rouhani's press office.

Rouhani, speaking in a cabinet session, said, "I tell the British that they are the initiator of insecurity and you will understand its consequences later." US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said Tuesday that the US and its allies were working to put together a coalition of countries to come up with a system to enforce freedom of navigation in the region amid what the US says are heightened threats from Iran. "We had a discussion today, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and I and we are engaging now with a number of countries to see if we can put together a coalition that would ensure freedom of navigation both in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab el Mandeb," Dunford said following an awards ceremony for his Finnish counterpart. "I think what we'll do is, we certainly from the United States perspective would provide maritime domain awareness and surveillance," he said, adding that naval vessels would escort commercial ships that shared a country of origin, if required. "Escorting in the normal course of events would be done by countries who have the same flag so a ship that is flagged by a particular country would be escorted by that country and I think what the United States can provide is domain awareness, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and then coordination and patrols for other ships that would be in the area would be largely coalition ships," Dunford said. This story is breaking and will be updated. </s> Five Iranian gunboats failed in an attempt to seize a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, according to US officials cited in a CNN report.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces ordered a British oil tanker to alter its route in the Strait of Hormuz and tried to force it near Iranian-controlled waters, according to CNN. But the HMS Montrose, a UK Royal Navy frigate, was escorting the oil tanker and pointed its weapons on the IRGC vessels.

The HMS Montrose verbally warned the Iranian forces, who then backed off, CNN reported. US aircraft observed and recorded the incident, CNN said.

The incident follows increased tensions between Iran and the UK. On Wednesday, Iran threatened to seize UK tankers, which have recently been escorted by the HMS Montrose and a minehunter traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's threats came after British Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker suspected of violating the European Union's sanctions by shipping about 2 million barrels of crude oil to Syria.

"You [Britain] are the initiator of insecurity and you will realise the consequences later," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said to a state-sponsored news agency on Wednesday.

"Now you are so hopeless that, when one of your tankers wants to move in the region, you have to bring your frigates because you are scared," Rouhani added. "Then why do you commit such acts? You should instead allow navigation to be safe."

The US Defense Department said it "was aware" of the reports and referred the matter to the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We are aware of the reports of [the IRGC's] harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the UK-flagged merchant vessel British Heritage today near the Strait of Hormuz," Navy Capt. Bill Urban said to INSIDER.

"Threats to international freedom of navigation require an international solution," Urban added. "The world economy depends on the free flow of commerce, and it is incumbent on all nations to protect and preserve this lynchpin of global prosperity."
The United Kingdom announces it is joining a United States-led naval mission in the Persian Gulf to protect oil tankers, following several seizures in international waters by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.