Royal Navy 'fends off Iranian seizure of British oil tanker in Persian Gulf'

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Royal Navy 'fends off Iranian seizure of British oil tanker in Persian Gulf'The Royal Navy has reportedly fended off the attempted seizure of a British oil tanker by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, in an apparent tit-for-tit response to the arrest of one of Iran's own vessels. The British Heritage, owned by BP Shipping and registered to the Isle of Man, was crossing into the Strait of Hormuz area when it was approached by five armed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats, US media reported. The Iranians ordered the vessel to stop in nearby Iranian territorial waters, CNN reported, citing two US officials with direct knowledge of the incident. A US aircraft flying overhead filmed the incident, the broadcaster said. The Guards boats withdrew after HMS Montrose, a Royal Navy frigate which had been escorting the tanker, aimed its guns on the Iranians and warned them to move away, according to CNN. "It was harassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage," a US official told Reuters. It was reported earlier that HMS Montrose, a Type-23 frigate, was in the region to safeguard  another British oil tanker in the region, the Pacific Voyager. The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.  Tensions have escalated between the UK and Iran over the Royal Marines’ seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar last Thursday.  The Islamic Republic has warned there will be a response to the seizure of the Grace 1, with President Hassan Rouhani saying on Wednesday that Britain “will realise the consequences later.” Mr Rouhani called the seizure of the vessel, which was bound for Syria and accused of flouting EU sanctions, "mean and wrong" during a Cabinet meeting. He warned London: "You are an initiator of insecurity and you will understand its repercussions," without elaborating. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander threatened on Friday to seize a British ship in retaliation. Oil supertanker Grace 1 operation in waters off British overseas territory of Gibraltar Credit: Ministry of Defence Iran denies the vessel was headed to Banyas refinery in Syria, where the government of President Bashar al-Assad is an ally of Tehran. The Pacific Voyager, an Isle of Man-flagged oil tanker, and the British Heritage had been sheltering off the coast of Saudi Arabia this week amid fears they would be seized in retaliation. The British Heritage was due to dock in the Iraqi city of Basra on the weekend but made an unexpected U-turn. The British-flagged ship, able to hold more than one million barrels of oil, was contracted by Royal Dutch Shell to collect the crude and deliver it to northwest Europe but the order was cancelled. The latest reported incident comes after Iran said it had lost patience with perceived inaction by European countries more than a year after US President Donald Trump withdrew the US out of a 2015 agreement curbing Tehran's nuclear programme. Washington has since stepped up economic sanctions against Iran and moved to bring the country's oil exports to zero as part of a "maximum pressure" policy to make Iran halt actions that it said undermined regional security. Iran has responded to the sanctions by starting to breach limits put on its nuclear activities under the 2015 pact. Several oil tankers were attacked in waters near Iran's southern coast in May and June, for which the United States blamed Iran. Tehran denied any involvement. Last month, Iran shot down a US drone near the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Mr Trump to order retaliatory air strikes, only to call them off.