Iran’s English dailies on British tanker’s legitimate detention

The prudent step taken by Iran’s coastal guard in the Strait of Hormuz in detaining a British-flagged tanker that was violating international navigational rules has been hailed by the nation, including the three leading English language dailies published from Tehran – Kayhan International, Tehran Times, and Iran Daily.

We present you excerpts of the editorials of the said three newspapers.

Kayhan International in its Viewpoint Column, titled “Detention of ‘Steno Impero’ Unconnected to British Buccaneering”, wrote: “Piracy never goes unpunished, even if the British buccaneers or corsairs or whatever you call those who continue to hide in the occupied Spanish territory of Gibraltar with the stolen super tanker “Grace I” and its cargo of two million-plus barrels of Iranian crude oil, think they are safe from justice.

“No, Friday’s detention of the British tanker ‘Stena Impero’ in the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranian coastal guards was not a form of punishment for the regime in London or a reprisal for its act of maritime terrorism on the high seas in the hijacking of ‘Grace I’.

“It is merely the case of a vessel violating international navigation rules and causing insecurity in the vital waterway through which a third of the world’s oil supplies flow, after it rammed into a fishing trawler and tried to flee by ignoring warnings from the Iranian navy which is responsible for ensuring the safety of sea traffic in this part of the Persian Gulf.

“‘Steno Impero’, however, couldn’t escape the ever-alert law-enforcement authorities of the area, and when it tried to call the British frigate ‘Montrose’ for help, the Iranian coastal guards warned the intruding warship of the dire consequences of meddling, and after boarding the lawless tanker (as confirmed by the footage released) steered it to the port of Bandar Abbas, where the judicial officials are investigating the case.”

As pointed out by Kayhan International: “Iran’s judiciary is known for its fairness, as was evident by its prompt release of another British tanker ‘Mesdar’ that had been guided to Bandar Abbas for due inspection, which means whatever verdict it will announce in the case of ‘Steno Impero’ after thorough investigation, will be just and deserving.

“It is unlike the kangaroo court of the British occupiers of Gibraltar which extended the illegal detention of ‘Grace I’ by a month after expiry of the initial fortnight forcible berthing order on the absurd charge that the Iranian crude was destined for Syria – a country under European Union sanctions for thwarting the terrorist bid to overthrow the legal government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“As Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and co-chair of the European council on foreign relations, has said by pinpointing the ambiguities of the British action in Gibraltar: “The legality of the UK seizure of a tanker heading for Syria with oil from Iran intrigues me. One refers to EU sanctions against Syria, but Iran is not a member of the EU. And the EU as a principle doesn’t impose its sanctions on others. That’s what the US does.”

“In view of these facts, the British regime, whose days of colonial terrorism are long past, is advised to stop its squealing and the rubbish talk of retaliation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, when the whole world knows that London cannot do anything except to drop its lip service of support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and overtly side with the thuggish US administration of Donald Trump in its vain bid to browbeat Iran into submission.

“Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has correctly summed up the situation in his Saturday’s tweet from Caracas, Venezuela, where he is attending a meeting of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM):

“Unlike the piracy in the Strait of Gibraltar, our action in the Persian Gulf is to uphold international maritime rules. As I said in New York (at the UN HQ), it is IRAN that guarantees the security of the Persian Gulf & the Strait of Hormuz. The UK must cease being an accessory to the Economic Terrorism of the US.”

Kayhan International concluded: “As for the case of ‘Grace I’ and the punishment for the British terrorists who hijacked it and continue to illegally hold it, justice will reach them sooner or later, irrespective of the ruling of the Iranian judiciary for the law-breaking British tanker ‘Steno Impero’”.

Tehran Times in its Op-Ed column by Hamid Bayati, titled “Britain confused on policies toward Tehran: easing the tension or increasing them”, said: “Britain has had a rough week after Iran detained a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. It seems that the British are confused what policy to adopt; first, British Secretary of State for Defense described the capture “hostile” and then, the British Foreign Secretary announced that they want to ease the tensions with Iran. 

“The British officials made the remarks after their second emergency meeting on Saturday. After the meeting, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted that they want to reduce the tensions. According to Hunt, the British government emergency meeting has discussed the safety of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz – but he didn’t say anything of the violation of international maritime rules by the British tanker.

“Tension between Iran and Britain escalated after Britain illegally seized a Panama-flagged super tanker ‘Grace I’ in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4th, carrying 2-million-plus barrels of Iranian oil to customers in the Mediterranean Sea.

“Britain claimed that the supertanker was carrying oil to Syria, but the Iranian government announced that the tanker was heading another destination.

“After the illegal seizure of Grace 1 oil tanker, Iranian officials decided to resolve the issue through diplomacy and they had a meeting with Gibraltar officials but some other entities interfered in the matter and Gibraltar announced that the oil tanker will not be released.”

Tehran Times further said: “Hardliners in Britain are now saying that more pressure must be placed on Iran and some are even proposing the renewal of sanctions; however, this is a poor strategy that has been already tested by their closest ally, the United States, and has never come to any success.

“Britain is proposing that the European Union puts more pressure on Iran; however, London and Brussels are not at their best relationship right now as they have disagreements over a variety of subjects including Brexit.

Britain which seized ‘Grace I’ for satisfying the US, is now in a conundrum. Washington, who first encouraged Britain to seize the oil tanker. 

“Now, London has resorted to the United Nations Security Council to release its ship. Obviously, if the western countries take on a hostile stand toward Iran in this situation, it will only exacerbate the security of the Persian Gulf region and will be to the benefit of no one.

“The only strategy that can take Britain out of this crisis is to stay away from US and try to resolve the issues with Iran directly.
“Anyway, right now, Britain’s internal situation is also unsteady as the country will have a new Prime Minister in few days, so whatever the British officials say now cannot be trusted, because the country’s cabinet is changing and the new cabinet may have new members who have other opinions. 

What is, however, interesting now is that some countries like Bahrain are now acting like the seized ship belonged to them! Taking such an aggressive stance is very strange because the Arab countries around the Persian Gulf don’t have a steady situation themselves and are in constant conflict with one another, each trying to topple the others.”

Another Iranian English language newspaper ‘Iran Daily’, in its perspective column titled: “Britain should not become Trump’s ‘messengers’ over Iran” wrote: “Iran’s envoy to Britain warned against escalating tensions on Sunday as a UK official declined to rule out sanctions in response to Tehran’s detention of a British-flagged oil tanker.

“Britain needs to contain “those domestic political forces who want to escalate existing tension between Iran and the UK well beyond the issue of ships,” Iran’s Ambassador to Britain Hamid Baeidinejad said on Twitter.

“This is quite dangerous and unwise at a sensitive time in the region,” he said, adding that Iran “is firm and ready for different scenarios.”

“Britain’s Defence Secretary Tobias Ellwood reiterated calls for de-escalation on Sunday in an interview with Sky News. He said: “Well, firstly we need to try and de-escalate this. There has been a ratcheting-up of tensions in West Asia.”

“Ellwood also noted that the British Navy “is too small to manage our interests across the globe.”
“London has warned its ships to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about a third of the world’s seaborne oil.

“Iran said the detained tanker “risked maritime safety.”

“Allahmorad Afifipour, head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization in Hormuzgan Province, said: “We are required by regulations to investigate the issue ... the duration of the investigation depends on the level of cooperation by the involved parties.”

“He added: All 23 crew members aboard the ship are “safe and in good health in Bandar Abbas port.

“The vessel’s Sweden-based owner, Stena Bulk, said it hoped to visit the crew, who are from India, Latvia, the Philippines and Russia. India has called on Iran to release the ship’s 18 Indian crew members.”