The Public Relations Department of IRGC naval forces governing the Fifth Naval Zone in the Persian Gulf has denounced the US Pentagon’s claims that its forces attempted to seize a UK oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
After some Western media cited a claim by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) that five Iranian fast boats attempted to capture a UK oil tanker in the Persian Gulf but they failed as the UK Royal Navy frigate (HMS Montrose) interfered, the Public Relations Department the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) naval forces governing the Fifth Naval Zone in the Persian Gulf, rejected the claim.
The IRGC statement said “naval patrols of the Guards Corps in the Persian Gulf are continuing according to regular procedures and missions with intelligence, precision, and during the last 24 hours, there have been no encounters with foreign vessels, including English ones.”
The Guards also stresses that “if an order to seize foreign vessels is received, IRGC naval forces governing the Fifth Naval Zone in the Persian Gulf are able to carry out their mission in its geographical zone without delay, decisively and fast.”
Commenting on the incident, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani mocked the UK, saying that British ships wouldn’t need to be escorted by the Royal Navy if Britain hadn’t endangered the safety of navigation by seizing the Iranian tanker.
The news comes after the government of British overseas territory Gibraltar detained an Iranian tanker purportedly carrying oil to Syria and claimed that Tehran had violated international sanctions.
Source: Mehr News Agency
