UK Rejects Idea of Tanker Exchange with Iran

The United Kingdom on Monday rejected the release of an Iranian oil tanker seized off Gibraltar over an alleged breach of European Union sanctions against Syria, in exchange for a British-flagged vessel captured in the Strait of Hormuz by the Islamic Republic. “There is no quid pro quo,” newly-appointed Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC radio. “This is not about some kind of barter. This is about international law and the rules of the international legal system being upheld, and that is what we will insist on.” Tensions have flared between Tehran and London since Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero on July 19. The incident appears to have come in response to British forces stopping the Iranian Grace 1 in the Strait of Gibraltar earlier in the month. The Gulf has seen tensions in recent months as oil tankers belonging to American allies have been interfered with or seized, allegedly by the Islamic Republic.