This is an extremely serious situation.
It looks likely the British tankers seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps represent an escalation that could goad the West into taking very risky but necessary action.
It is just days away from Britain getting a new Prime Minister and the likelihood it will be Boris Johnson, who is a diplomatic hand grenade where Tehran is concerned.
There is a possibility that Britain could be forced into taking localised military action, further embedding us with America’s much more aggressive stance against Tehran.
Our Royal Navy now has seven warships in the region, backed by the lurking possible presence of a submarine to back up their efforts to face down the Iranian threat.
The Royal Marines’ seizure of an Iranian tanker as it attempted to bust European Union sanctions en route to Syria has focused the vengeful and fanatical IRGC’s attention firmly on London.
British diplomats will be garnering support, perhaps weakened by Brexit across Europe, and in the US following Trump’s row over British diplomatic cable leaks critical of his leadership.
But the priority in this highly volatile crisis will be to de-escalate, trying to get Iran to release the tanker, whilst maintaining Britain’s legal right to keep hold of the Iranian tanker it seized.
