Iran’s president yesterday hinted he’d be up for a tanker trade with the UK in order to deescalate the tense situation around the Strait of Hormuz.
“We do not seek the continuation of tension with some European countries,” Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday during a weekly cabinet meeting. “If Britain steps away from the wrong actions in Gibraltar, they will receive an appropriate response from Iran.”
British armed forces captured the Grace 1 VLCC off Gibraltar earlier this month, with Iran responding last Friday by capturing the UK-flagged Stena Impero product tanker.
Iraq’s prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, met Rouhani in Tehran this week partly at the request of the UK defence secretary to negotiate the release of the Stena Impero and its 23 crew.
Britain has offered to release Grace 1 as long as Iran provides guarantees that the ship will not continue with a plan to unload Iran’s oil at the Syrian port of Baniyas refinery where EU sanctions are in place.
