Thank goodness for the Royal Navy.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Britain "scared" and "hopeless" for using Royal Navy warships to shadow British tankers in the Persian Gulf.

The word I would use is "prudent" and in the event it is just as well the navy was there.

Later the same day three boats believed to belong to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard approached a UK tanker, the "British Heritage" and tried to bring it to a halt as it was moving out of the Persian Gulf into the Strait of Hormuz.

A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Montrose, which had been shadowing the BP-owned tanker at distance, was forced to move between the three boats and the tanker, according to a Ministry of Defence spokesman, who also described the Iranians' actions as "contrary to international law".

HMS Montrose is a type 23 frigate displacing 4,950 tons, and her armament includes a BAE 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun turret and a number of smaller guns. She was awarded the Fleet Effectiveness Trophy for best frigate in the Royal Navy in 2014.

According to press reports which have neither been confirmed or denied by the MoD, HMS Montrose trained her guns on the Iranian boats and invited them to leave and, not being ready to become martyrs for the cause of the glorious revolution just yet, they took this advice.

No shots were fired but I do not like to think what might have happened had the Montrose not been in a position to intervene.

Thank goodness for the Royal Navy: this just goes to show how much we need the Navy and the other armed services - and the yards like BAE systems at Barrow-in-Furness which build and maintain their ships.




Comments

Anonymous said…
The Royal Navy seize an Iranian ship and that's deemed ok not "contrary to international law". A couple of Iranian dingies approach a British ship but that's outrageous "contrary to international law" so are threatened by the Royal Navy. Britain waiving the rules as usual.
8:38 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
The Iranian tanker Grace 1 was seized while in British waters (to be precise, at Gibraltar) on the basis of specific accusations of breaking declared sanctions against Syria which will be presented to a properly-constituted court.

The UK flagged tanker British Heritage was not in Iranian waters when it was approached by three small vessels which apparently belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. According to the MoD, HMS Montrose remained in international waters throughout the incident.

No charges were presented and the Iranian authorities have denied attempting to seize the ship.

The two cases are therefore not precisely comparable.
12:23 am
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