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Iran and U.K. Talk Over Tanker Crisis
The countries’ top diplomats discussed the matter of the seized Iranian oil tanker on a call
By
Benoit Faucon in London and
Aresu Eqbali in Tehran
Updated July 14, 2019 5:30 pm ET
The U.K. and Iran sought to defuse tensions over a detained Iranian oil tanker in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, but failed to resolve an issue that has raised new fears about military conflict over commercial-shipping lanes.
The renewed diplomacy included a call between the two countries’ top diplomats, demonstrating how both sides wanted to de-escalate a crisis that flared up after Gibraltar authorities and the Royal Marines seized the Grace 1 on July 4. The U.K. says the Iranian tanker was carrying two million barrels of oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions prohibiting crude sales to Bashar al-Assad’s government.
In a tweet, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt offered to return the tanker provided that Iran guaranteed its oil wouldn’t go to Syria. Gibraltar on Saturday freed the four Indian seamen who manned Iran’s ship.
Mr. Hunt on Sunday said he spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and on “finding a resolution to the current situation and avoiding further escalation.
“Action had to be taken [against the Grace 1], and this was nothing to do with the oil being Iranian,” he said.
In a tweet posted late Saturday on Iran’s official government account, Mr. Zarif didn’t directly address Mr. Hunt’s demand of assurances that the ship’s oil wouldn’t go to Syria but said it was headed to a legal destination in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Separately, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told lawmakers in Tehran that the controversy over the Grace 1 was resolvable and not complicated, ISNA, the Iranian news outlet, reported.
Iranian officials have denied that the ship was carrying oil to Syria. Even if it was, Iranian officials said, Iran isn’t subject to any U.K. or European oil embargo placed on Syria.
The fight over the tanker comes amid a standoff between Iran and the U.S., which last year pulled out of a 2015 international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program and imposed harsh sanctions to punish Tehran for its threatening posture in the Middle East. The U.S. has built up its military presence in the Persian Gulf this year, citing Iranian threats.
Iran began retaliating in recent weeks, executing its first intentional breach of the nuclear deal’s limits on its atomic fuel and shooting down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has also accused Iran of attacking tankers in the Gulf of Oman and coordinating with allied militias to blow up oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia—accusations that Iran denies.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-and-u-k-talk-over-tanker-crisis-11563118631
Iran and U.K. Talk Over Tanker Crisis
The countries’ top diplomats discussed the matter of the seized Iranian oil tanker on a call
By
Benoit Faucon in London and
Aresu Eqbali in Tehran
Updated July 14, 2019 5:30 pm ET
The U.K. and Iran sought to defuse tensions over a detained Iranian oil tanker in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, but failed to resolve an issue that has raised new fears about military conflict over commercial-shipping lanes.
The renewed diplomacy included a call between the two countries’ top diplomats, demonstrating how both sides wanted to de-escalate a crisis that flared up after Gibraltar authorities and the Royal Marines seized the Grace 1 on July 4. The U.K. says the Iranian tanker was carrying two million barrels of oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions prohibiting crude sales to Bashar al-Assad’s government.
In a tweet, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt offered to return the tanker provided that Iran guaranteed its oil wouldn’t go to Syria. Gibraltar on Saturday freed the four Indian seamen who manned Iran’s ship.
Mr. Hunt on Sunday said he spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and on “finding a resolution to the current situation and avoiding further escalation.
“Action had to be taken [against the Grace 1], and this was nothing to do with the oil being Iranian,” he said.
In a tweet posted late Saturday on Iran’s official government account, Mr. Zarif didn’t directly address Mr. Hunt’s demand of assurances that the ship’s oil wouldn’t go to Syria but said it was headed to a legal destination in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Separately, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told lawmakers in Tehran that the controversy over the Grace 1 was resolvable and not complicated, ISNA, the Iranian news outlet, reported.
Iranian officials have denied that the ship was carrying oil to Syria. Even if it was, Iranian officials said, Iran isn’t subject to any U.K. or European oil embargo placed on Syria.
The fight over the tanker comes amid a standoff between Iran and the U.S., which last year pulled out of a 2015 international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program and imposed harsh sanctions to punish Tehran for its threatening posture in the Middle East. The U.S. has built up its military presence in the Persian Gulf this year, citing Iranian threats.
Iran began retaliating in recent weeks, executing its first intentional breach of the nuclear deal’s limits on its atomic fuel and shooting down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has also accused Iran of attacking tankers in the Gulf of Oman and coordinating with allied militias to blow up oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia—accusations that Iran denies.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-and-u-k-talk-over-tanker-crisis-11563118631
