UK Sends Mediator to Iran to Discuss Release of Seized Tanker - Official

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2019) The United Kingdom has sent a mediator to Iran to negotiate the release of a UK-flagged tanker that has been seized by Iranian forces, the head of the Iranian supreme leader's office, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, said on Wednesday, as cited by local media.

"A country that at one time appointed ministers and trustees [in Iran] has reached a point where it sends a mediator and pleads for their ship to be freed," he said, according to Iranian semi-official Tasnim agency.

Earlier in the day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Iran would not allow any country to create turmoil in the region and that it did not seek military confrontation.

Tensions between the United Kingdom and Iran escalated last week when Tehran said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the Stena Impero oil tanker, which was sailing under the UK flag, in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that links the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

The vessel's 23-person crew, which includes three Russians, remained on board the ship, which dropped anchor off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The Iranian authorities have confirmed that the crew was in good health.

The seizure of the vessels came nearly two weeks after UK marines helped seize Iran's Grace 1 oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar on suspicion of trying to bring oil to Syria. The police detained the vessel's captain and chief officer on July 11 in connection with an investigation into the situation. A court has since extended their detention until August 15.