LONDON — Britain’s foreign secretary said Iranian authorities seized two vessels Friday in the Strait of Hormuz, actions signaling intensifying tensions in the strategic waterway that has become a flashpoint between Tehran and the West.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said one of the seized ships was British-flagged and the other sailed under Liberia’s flag. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency tweeted shortly after Hunt’s statement that the second tanker had left Iran’s territorial waters.
“These seizures are unacceptable,” Hunt said as he prepared to enter an emergency government meeting Friday night. “It is essential that freedom of navigation is maintained and that all ships can move safely and freely in the region.”
The seizing of the British tanker marked perhaps the most significant escalation since tensions between Iran and the West began rising in May. At that time, the U.S. announced it was dispatching an aircraft carrier and additional troops to the Persian Gulf, citing unspecified threats posed by Iran.
The ongoing showdown has caused jitters around the globe, amid fears that any misunderstanding or misstep by either side could lead to war.
Details of what took place Friday remained sketchy. Iran said earlier Friday that it had seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, which is at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and serves as the passageway for one-fifth of all global crude exports.
The tanker Stena Impero was taken to an Iranian port because it was not complying with “international maritime laws and regulations,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard declared.
Britain’s Royal Marines assisted in the seizure of an Iranian oil supertanker on July 4 by Gibraltar, a British overseas territory off the southern coast of Spain.
Britain said it would release the vessel if Iran could prove it was not breaching European sanctions on oil shipments to Syria. The seized vessel was loaded with over 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.
A statement from Stena Bulk, which owns the tanker, said it was unable to contact the ship after it was approached by unidentified vessels and a helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.
The company said the tanker, with 23 crew members aboard, was in international waters when it was approached but subsequently appeared to be heading toward Iran.
U.K. Chamber of Shipping chief executive Bob Sanguinetti said the seizure represented an escalation in tensions in the Persian Gulf and made it clear more protection for merchant vessels was urgently needed.