Iran's hard-liners urge retaliation against UK seizure of supertanker
After the seizure of a Syria-bound Iranian oil tanker by British Royal Marines off the coast of Gibraltar, Iran's hard-liners are pressing the Rouhani government to drop diplomatic efforts and instead "respond in kind" by holding UK vessels in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Calls are growing from Iran's hard-liners for reciprocal action against the United Kingdom's seizure of an Iranian oil tanker. Last week, British marines off the coast of Gibraltar detained the supertanker — which was carrying 2 million barrels of crude to Syria — after it was found in breach of EU sanctions on exports of oil to the Syrian government.
The incident continues to draw the ire of Iranian authorities, who have called it an illegal move amounting to an act of "piracy." The Iranian Foreign Ministry has already grilled the UK ambassador in Tehran, expressing an official protest and demanding the immediate release of the vessel.
