If that tanker was indeed going the wrong way as it started to enter the Strait of Hormuz and had its GPS tracker turned off and refused to heed warnings from the Iranian Navy -- at the least, the shipping company would have a lot of explaining to do. At worst, the British government could be accused of staging an outright provocation.
The following CNN report doesn't mention the warnings, which I've seen in at least one other report. But if the tanker just kept going despite a warning(s) -- that was really all the Iranians needed to justify boarding the tanker because its maneuvers were a clear and active danger to other shipping traffic.
I fear this entire incident is a lesson on the perils of knee-jerk actions taken before anyone has had time to get a handle on just what happened.
12:32 p.m. ET, July 20, 2019
Iran says UK tanker wrongly used exit lane to enter into Strait of Hormuz
From CNN’s Sara Mazloumsaki in Atlanta
CNN
[includes video of Iranian Navy seizing the tanker]
Iran says the British-flagged Steno Impero tanker was using the exit lane to enter into the Strait of Hormuz, almost colliding with other vessels, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
According to IRNA, Iranian General Ramazan Sharif said the vessel was being escorted by the British Royal Navy when it "violated maritime rules and regulations" by sailing into the Strait of Hormuz in the wrong direction.
The Iranian Navy seized the tanker at the request of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran’s Hormozgan province, the General went on to say, according to IRNA.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the UK vessel was in "contravention of international regulations" by sailing into the Strait of Hormuz in the wrong direction and switching off its GPS tracker.
The tanker "was entering the Strait from the southern route which is an exit path, increasing the risk of accident," Tasnim news, an outlet close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported.
[END 12:32 CNN UPDATE IN THEIR LIVE-BLOGGING OF THE INCIDENT]
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Iran says the British-flagged Steno Impero tanker was using the exit lane to enter into the Strait of Hormuz, almost colliding with other vessels, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
According to IRNA, Iranian General Ramazan Sharif said the vessel was being escorted by the British Royal Navy when it "violated maritime rules and regulations" by sailing into the Strait of Hormuz in the wrong direction.
The Iranian Navy seized the tanker at the request of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran’s Hormozgan province, the General went on to say, according to IRNA.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the UK vessel was in "contravention of international regulations" by sailing into the Strait of Hormuz in the wrong direction and switching off its GPS tracker.
The tanker "was entering the Strait from the southern route which is an exit path, increasing the risk of accident," Tasnim news, an outlet close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported.
[END 12:32 CNN UPDATE IN THEIR LIVE-BLOGGING OF THE INCIDENT]
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