Drone footage has emerged of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) circling the Stena Impero, the British-flagged tanker seized in the Gulf on July 19, 2019.
The footage, from the Twitter account Bloomberg TicToc, which credits ‘Mory Bndha, via Storyful’, shows the IRG boats approaching and blocking the vessel’s path.
Further footage, which was released over the weekend, show the IRG boarding the vessel via helicopters.
A recording between the IRG and the HMS Montrose of the Royal Navy at the moment the vessel was seized, has been published by Euronews.
While Iran initially insisted the vessel was seized for safety reasons, later official comments suggest it was in response to Britain stopping an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar.
The Iranian tanker, the Grace 1, was seized by British marines on July 4, 2019, as it was believed to be taking oil to Syria, in breach of EU sanctions.
The seizure has caused a diplomatic crisis between the UK and Iran. The UK’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned it in the House of Commons.
PTI will be covering this story as it develops.
