Washington, July 5 (RHC)-- U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has hailed Britain's illegal seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar. British Royal Marines stationed in Gibraltar seized the supertanker on Thursday accusing it of carrying crude oil to Syria in violation of European Union (EU) sanctions against the Arab country.
The British overseas territory Gibraltar claimed it detained a supertanker on suspicion of carrying crude oil to Syria in violation of European Union (EU) sanctions against the Arab country.
Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Britain's ambassador to the country after British forces seized the oil tanker. "We declared to the ambassador that this move amounts to strange unconventionality, because the sanctions that they have announced are not based on the Security Council [resolutions]," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Moussavi said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)'s News Network.
"Iran does not accept this measure (seizure of the tanker)," Moussavi added. The Iranian official further stated that the Spanish Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the move was made at the request of the US and that the seizure amounted to "implementation of a type of extraterritorial sanctions despite the fact that the European Union has invariably been against such bans."
Experts believe that the measure taken by the British government in seizing the Syria-bound Iranian tanker is illegal and can have serious consequences for the government in London. Since Iran's tanker was carrying fuel and oil to Syrian people for solely humanitarian purposes, the measure taken by the British government is not only illegal, but also inhumane.
Iran and Syria enjoy vast commercial and trade ties and under the international law, Britain has no right to interfere in their relations.
The U.S. has avowed an intention to reduce Iran's oil exports to "zero" as part of the sanctions that it reinstated after leaving a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran last year. Both Washington's withdrawal from the deal and its reintroduction of the sanctions came while the accord has been ratified in the form of the United Nations Security Resolution 2231.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pointed out how U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton has been feverishly trying to push Washington towards war with Iran. "Today, the world's catching on to Amb. John Bolton's chronic warmongering," Zarif tweeted on April 30th.
Iran's top diplomat cited numerous remarks by Bolton in U.S. media, and elsewhere, exemplifying his decades-long belligerency.
