An incident on July 10 involving five Iranian IRGC fast boasts, the UK oil tanker British Heritage and the HMS Montrose is stoking tensions yet again between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
The following is a timeline of events leading up to the incident and helpful links.
June 20: US drone shot down, US calls off airstrikes against Iran.
July 4: "Britain has been plunged into a diplomatic row with Iran after Royal Marines ... Iran blasts Britain's 'piracy' after Royal Marines detain oil tanker in Gibraltar"
July 5: "Iran warned Britain that it 'should be scared' that a British ship will be seized in the Gulf in a tit-for-tat retaliation"
July 7: "A British oil tanker is sheltering off the coast of Saudi Arabia amid fears it will be seized by Iran in a tit-for-tit response to the arrest of one of its own vessels" - Telegraph
July 9: US plans to form military coalition to safeguard tankers
July 10:
2pm EST (22:30 Iran time) "Royal Navy warship shadowing British tanker after Iran threat"
Tweets show approximate location of the ships
5pm EST (1:30am Iran time) - Iran's Rouhani warns of consequences
- 6pm EST(2:30am Iran time) Tasnim News reports Rouhani's full comments.
Ryan Browne at CNN writes at 7pm EST "Officials say a US surveillance aircraft was overhead & recorded video of the incident. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose had been escorting the tanker from the rear. It trained its deck guns on the Iranians & gave them a verbal warning to back away which they subsequently did."
Telegraph 8pm EST "The Royal Navy has reportedly fended off the attempted seizure of a British oil tanker by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf."
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