A recording has emerged of Iranian coastguards telling a British Royal Navy frigate they want to inspect the captured Stena Impero for security reasons.
The radio exchanges make no reference to a previous Iranian suggestion that the British-flagged oil tanker had been stopped due to an accident with a fishing vessel, a previous explanation given by Tehran for the capture of the ship.
A spokesman for Iran’s supreme council also did little to hide the view from Tehran that the seizure was justifiable retaliation for the British capture of an Iranian-flagged ship, Grace 1, off Gibraltar. The UK says Grace 1 was bound for Syria to unload Iranian oil in breach of an EU embargo.
The recording, obtained by the British maritime security firm Dryad Global, includes exchanges between the Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose and Iranian armed forces vessels, in which the frigate attempts to seek assurances that the tanker is not being captured.
The Iranian vessel can be heard telling a ship – believed to be the Stena Impero – to change its course, saying: “If you obey you will be safe. Alter your course to 360 degrees immediately.”
HMS Montrose can be heard identifying itself in the recording. It tells the Stena Impero: “I reiterate as you are conducting transit passage in a recognised international strait, under international law your passage must not be impaired, impeded, obstructed or hampered.”
The frigate then asks the Iranian vessel to confirm it is not “intending to violate international law” by attempting to board the tanker. The Iranian captain replies: “I want to inspect the ship for security reasons.”
Montrose responds: “Please confirm that you have no intention of violating international law by attempting to enter the ship illegally.”
There are different reports as how close HMS Montrose was to the Stena Impero at the time of its capture on Friday, but the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the ship was 60 minutes away, underlining how thinly spread the British protection force is through the Gulf, especially the Strait of Hormuz, the busiest and narrowest waterway in the world for the transport of oil and gas products.
Video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency on Saturday appeared to show the moment the tanker was raided. It shows masked forces dropping down ropes on to the ship from a helicopter after it was surrounded by high-speed vessels.
In a tweet, Zarif said: “It is Iran that guarantees the security of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Unlike the piracy in the Strait of Gibraltar, our action in the Persian Gulf is to uphold international maritime rules.”
A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Brig-Ge Ramezan Sharif, said Tehran had seized the ship despite the “resistance and interference” of a British warship that had been escorting it.
Iran’s Fars news agency said the Revolutionary Guards had taken control of the Stena Impero on Friday after it collided with an Iranian fishing boat whose distress call it ignored.
The vessel, carrying no cargo, was taken to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas with its 23 crew – 18 of whom are Indian – while the accident was investigated, Iranian news agencies quoted the head of Ports and Maritime Organization in southern Hormozgan province, Allahmorad Afifipour, as saying. Afifpour said members of the crew may be interviewed on technical matters.
