NEW YORK — Britain advised the United Nations Safety Council on Saturday {that a} British-flagged tanker seized by Iran was approached by Iranian forces when it was in Omani territorial waters and the motion “constitutes unlawful interference.”
“The ship was exercising the lawful proper of transit passage in a world strait as offered for underneath worldwide regulation,” Britain’s U.N. mission wrote to the Safety Council. “Worldwide regulation requires that the appropriate of transit passage shall not be impeded, and subsequently the Iranian motion constitutes unlawful interference.”
The letter, seen by Reuters, was additionally despatched to U.N. Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres.
Friday’s motion within the international oil commerce’s most vital waterway has been considered within the West as a serious escalation after three months of confrontation that has already taken Iran and the USA to the brink of conflict.
It follows threats from Tehran to retaliate for Britain’s seizure on July four of the Iranian tanker Grace 1, accused of violating sanctions on Syria.
“Present tensions are extraordinarily regarding, and our precedence is to de-escalate. We don’t search confrontation with Iran,” the letter learn. “However it’s unacceptable and extremely escalatory to threaten transport going about its authentic enterprise by way of internationally acknowledged transit corridors.”
Britain referred to as on Iran to launch the Stena Impero tanker and advised the Safety Council it was working to resolve the problem by way of diplomatic means. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Enhancing by Daniel Wallis)
