According to UK’s Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt as he talked to his Iranian counterpart on Saturday that Britain would facilitate the release of the detained Grace 1 oil tanker if there were guarantees it would not go to Syria.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shared dialogues over the crisis and discussed the escalating tensions on a phone call. According to Hunt, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had told him that Iran wanted to resolve the issue and was not seeking to escalate tensions.
Hunt tweeted: “Just spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif. Constructive call. I reassured him our concern was a destination not the origin of the oil on Grace One & that UK would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria, following due process in Gib courts.
The exchange comes after confirmation that the UK will deploy its military in the Gulf by sending a second warship, HMS Duncan to the region amid tensions in order to shadow British commercial oil tankers.
HMS Duncan, a Type 45 Destroyer, will be sailing towards the Gulf in coming days after recently completing exercises with NATO in the Black Sea, and is soon to be expected in the tension amid region.
Duncan will operate jointly with the Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose, and US allies in the Gulf. The Ministry of Defense would not comment on the deployment, but it is obvious that Duncan was always due to give partial or full-time relief to HMS Montrose by sailing into the region. Now, its deployment has been brought earlier as a result of the escalating crisis with Iran.
British PM, Theresa May said this week that she would begin talks with US administration on increasing its military presence in the region, following two sets of attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and an attempt by the Iranian navy boats to harass a British-owned oil tanker which was later deterred by Royal Navy Frigate HMS Montrose.
UK-Iran relations got worse last week when the UK captured Grace 1, an Iranian Oil tanker, suspected of carrying oil to Syria, in breach of EU sanctions, which Tehran has denied and threatened to seize a British oil tanker in retaliation if Grace 1 was not released.