UK Acting With 'Typical Imperialist Arrogance' On Iran's Tanker Seizure - Communist Party

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2019) Thursday's interception and seizure of the Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1, by the UK Royal Marines constitutes a "reckless" provocation at a time of escalating tensions in the middle East and looks like an act of "typical UK imperialist arrogance," Robert Griffiths, the general-secretary of the UK Communist Party, told Sputnik on Friday.

On Thursday, the Gibraltar government said it had detained the tanker carrying oil to Syria as it had "reasonable grounds" to believe the vessel was acting in breach of EU sanctions against the Arab republic. The local administration further claimed the tanker was carrying crude oil to the Banyas Refinery in Syria, which is allegedly owned by an entity that is subject to EU sanctions. Acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell reportedly said later that day the vessel was detained per the request of the United States.

"It's a very provocative action and my first thoughts, when I heard of it, was over the sheer scale of the provocation that it represents and how it really puts in harm's way any shipping anywhere near Iranian waters for precisely the reason that is now becoming evident, as in Iran may choose to retaliate ... It's very typical British imperialist arrogance - we have the right to bomb, attack and invade anywhere in the world just because we say so," Griffiths said.

He pointed out that maintaining Syria sanctions might be just part of the UK motivation behind the seizure of Grace 1.

"I note the justification that it's mean to enforce EU sanctions against Syria, but I suspect that's only part of the motivation, and it begs the question that in having these sanctions, was it the intention of the European Union that they should be enforced in effect by military action?" the politician said.

According to Griffiths, the incident may demonstrate a dangerous trend in the EU foreign policy on supporting sanctions with hostile actions.

"If so it represents a very worrying development on the part of the evolution of the EU. That moves it into a very worrying position where sanctions against countries can be automatically enforced by military action. So really it's a reckless, adventurist act that I would have thought is almost certainly illegal in international law," he added.

Stephen Bell, a spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition, echoed Griffiths, saying that the United Kingdom had interfered in the trade relations between the two sovereign nations.

"The British government has dangerously interfered with the trade between two sovereign nations - Iran and Syria. It is highly reminiscent of the 1953 coup against the elected president of Iran, when British and US governments blockaded the Iranian oil industry. The British government should be promoting dialogue, not fuelling the tenancies towards war upon Iran," Bell told Sputnik.

Tehran has condemned the "illegal" seizure of the tanker and demanded its immediate release.