 Iran caught UK by surprise in Gulf: audio company London (AFP) July 22, 2019 - The man behind the dramatic audio of Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf says the episode played out over a chaotic 20-40 minutes while a UK warship raced in from an hour away -- too far to be of any help. The HMS Montrose "really didn't have much chance of having an impact on the scene," Dryad Global shipping risk management company head Philip Diacon told AFP. Diacon refused to discuss how his London-based firm obtained the audio of Friday's high-seas drama over the Stena Impero. But he said the entire exchange was conducted over an open channel -- number 16 -- which is used globally by military and commercial vessels to send out calls. Britain's helplessness in the situation has seen Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt get accused of devoting too much time to his ongoing UK leadership bid and not enough to his diplomatic duties. Diacon agreed that "this obviously did, to an extent, catch the UK by surprise". "The shipping industry was not really prepared for this." He added that his global clients were starting to look for alternatives to using British-flagged vessels in the flashpoint region. Almost a fifth of the world's oil passes through the 21-mile (33-kilometre) strait between Iran to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south. "Normally it's the British-flagged, US-flagged and Saudi-interest vessels that are the most likely to be targeted," Diacon said. It takes at least a month for most shippers to complete the paperwork needed to have their vessels registered under a different national flag. Diacon said most were now looking to China -- a major player in the Gulf region that Iran views as an important ally. "We are starting to see talk of moving to Chinese-flagged vessels," said Diacon. "Oil will continue to flow. The Iranians have no interests in disrupting other nations." - 'Warships are not the answer' - Diacon pointed out that about a hundred tankers go through the Strait of Hormuz in any 24-hour period and that accompanying each one was simply impossible at this stage. The United States is pressing other nations to join it in a proposed Gulf convoy system that was last used during the "Tanker War" of the late 1980s. But Britain and other European governments are cautious. They fear the convoys could spark a broader military operation that could result in all-out war. Hunt told parliament Monday that Britain was planning a European-led protection force for the Gulf that "will not be part of the US maximum pressure policy on Iran because we remain committed to preserving the Iran nuclear agreement." The United States pulled out of the landmark deal last year and tensions with Tehran have risen steadily since. "All governments will be under extreme pressure now to do something," said Diacon. But "you need a lot of assets to do it effectively and you need buy-in from nations to support it," he said. "Warships are not the answer."
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Iran warned Britain's next prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday that it will "protect" waters of the oil-rich Gulf, amid a standoff between the two countries over the seizure of tankers.
In the face of rising hostilities with the United States, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday impounded a tanker sailing under the flag of US ally Britain.
The seizure of the Stena Impero has been seen as a tit-for-tat move after British authorities detained an Iranian tanker on July 4 in the Mediterranean on suspicion it was shipping oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.
"I congratulate my former counterpart, @BorisJohnson on becoming UK PM," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted after Johnson beat his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in a vote by party members.
"Iran does not seek confrontation. But we have 1500 miles of Persian Gulf coastline. These are our waters & we will protect them."
Iran has impounded the Stena Impero at its port of Bandar Abbas for allegedly breaking "international maritime rules".
In new footage aired by Iranian state television, the crew of 18 Indians, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino are seen sitting around a table and seemingly going about their daily routines.
"Throughout history, Iran has been and will be the main guardian of security and free navigation" in the Gulf, President Hassan Rouhani said late Monday, adding that Tehran was not seeking to stoke tensions.
The head of Iran's navy, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, said in an interview published Tuesday that his forces use drones to closely observe "all enemy ships" going through the Gulf, "especially America's".
- Nuclear meeting -
Since the US began reimposing sanctions on Iran, tensions have mounted with drones shot down and tankers mysteriously attacked in sensitive Gulf waters.
At the height of the crisis, US President Donald Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after the Islamic republic downed a US drone.
Iran also said Monday it had arrested 17 suspects and sentenced some to death after dismantling a CIA spy network -- claims Trump dismissed as "totally false".
Tehran has been at loggerheads with Washington and its allies since May 2018, when Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran said it would attend a meeting in Vienna this weekend with countries still party to the troubled accord.
The meeting was requested by the European parties to discuss the "new situation", Iran said, referring to its reduced nuclear commitments under the deal in response to the US withdrawal.
The EU confirmed Iran would meet envoys from the remaining parties -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- on Sunday.
Tehran has already given up on complying with some of the deal's limits on its nuclear programme in retaliation for the US withdrawal and what it sees as the failure of other parties to help it circumvent sanctions.
- 'De-escalation' -
Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to France to deliver a message from Rouhani to his counterpart Emmanuel Macron, his ministry said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed he met the envoy who brought a message from Tehran.
"We are now pushing Iran back into the Vienna agreement," he said, referring to the nuclear deal.
"I met earlier with President Rouhani's special envoy to tell him that," Le Drian added.
The latest efforts come after Macron's top diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne visited Iran and met with senior officials earlier this month to "piece together a de-escalation" strategy.
The 2015 deal curbed Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
But on May 8 -- a year after the US withdrawal -- Iran said it would disregard certain limits on the programme as it was not receiving any benefits.
Iran has threatened further measures if the remaining parties to the deal fail to help it circumvent US sanctions, especially to sell its oil.
It has since exceeded the deal's limits on its enriched uranium and heavy water stockpiles, as well as passing a cap on its uranium enrichment.
The 4.5 percent enrichment level it reached is well below the more than 90 percent required for a nuclear warhead.
Iran has yet to specify what other steps it may take, and has repeatedly emphasised its actions can be reversed "within hours" if European partners deliver on commitments.
Meanwhile, China described as "illegal" US sanctions imposed on its companies as part of Washington's campaign against Iran.
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