Though it is considered virtually a foregone conclusion that the British-held Iranian tanker Grace 1, seized on July 4 and the Iranian-held British tanker Stena Impero, taken weeks later, will ultimately be traded for one another, British officials continue to insist that no such “swap” could happen under international law.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain won’t consider a swap and is insisting on international law being upheld. At the same time, he’s arguing that if Iran gives Britain back their tanker, they would be accepted as a responsible member of the international community, albeit a member whose tanker Britain is still going to keep.
British officials argue that the seizure of the Grace 1 is legal based on EU sanctions, which forbid Syria buying oil. There is substantial doubt that the EU can actually enforce this on non-member nations.
Iran says the tanker they captured hit a fishing boat and then refused to contact them, which is likely more legally enforceable since it happened in Iranian waters. The Iranians, however, have made clear that swapping tankers is all they really want.
“they would be accepted as a responsible member of the international community”
Iran would be “allowed” to continue to be a target of the US, Britain will go along with the attacks, and will even help them out as with this tanker seizure.
Iran got nothing from its last deal, and is being offered nothing now to keep to it or to reverse its current steps.
I said it from the very beginning that Rouhani-Zarif were stupid to have agreed to any nuke deal with untrustworthy countries.Time to get a dude as prez–iike straight-shooting Ahmadinejad!
“British officials argue that the seizure of the Grace 1 is legal based on EU sanctions, which forbid Syria buying oil.”
The blasé way it keeps getting mentioned that a country isn’t allowed to purchase oil is just mind numbing. At what point can Syria become a functioning country again? Could the “responsible members of the international community”, the US and UK, let us know?
From August 2018, various European countries started to fall inline with US sanctions on Iran, which were re-imposed due to Trump pulling out of the JCPOA, which itself was an illegal act.
The only body which can impose unilateral sanctions on a country is the UN, and as far as I am aware, it is illegal for the UK to detain an Iranian ship because the UK has sanctioned Syria.
Iran was in full compliance with the JCPOA, yet what benefits did it get from it?
This is simply further evidence of the playgound bully trying to intimidate Iran, by instructing the brown nosed puppy dog – the UK, to act on its behalf.
Dominic Raab should go screw himself. Brits need their tanker more than Iran needs theirs…
Newsflash Britain: You are not the arbiters of who is and isn’t responsible or part of the franchised few who get to decide how the common serfs live. You can take away the British empire, but not the mindset that justified and fueled it.
No, Britain is not, but we are–or so we think.
So much for the notion that the EU – or Britain at least – is interested in “diplomacy” with Iran.
Britain knows that the goal is the US goal of a blockade of Iran – starting with seizure of Iranian vessels outside of the Gulf to gauge Iranian reaction first. Britain found out the reaction – seize a British ship that openly violated the law of the ocean by damaging a small boat and refusing to acknowledge it – typical British behavior toward “inferiors.”
So now Britain continues to push a colonial attitude towards the Iranian vessel while demanding surrender from Iran by releasing the British ship.
No surprise here. But it’s going to get worse, we can count on that. The US and the EU – really NATO – is going to get more ships in the Gulf and start seizing Iranian oil tankers in pursuit of Trump’s intention to stop all Iranian oil sales. This is going to be a blockade and that’s one way the neocons intend to start the Iran war.
The seizure of Grace 1 “could [not] happen under international law,” either. Of course, it was perfectly acceptable under the “rules based order,” where the “rules” are made up as we go along.
Britain is not “a responsible member of the international community,” and has not been since a very brief moment when Commons refused to authorize the bombing of Syria in 2013. They deliberately adulterated the blood samples taken from the Skripals, as became obvious from the results of the analysis by the Speiz Lab.