Britain Refuses Tanker Swap with Iran

By Staff, Agencies 

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Sunday rejected the idea of a tanker exchange between Iran and the United Kingdom.

"There is no quid pro quo", Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC radio. "This is not about some kind of barter. This is about international law and the rules of the international legal system being upheld, and that is what we will insist on."

Iran and the United Kingdom have experienced a significant decline in their bilateral relations amid a series of tanker seizures over the past month.

The Iranian-flagged Grace-1 oil supertanker was detained on 4 July by Gibraltar's authorities by the UK marines.

Two weeks later, The IRGC seized the UK-flagged Stena Impero oil tanker in the Gulf. According to Tehran, the ship breached maritime rules, ignored warnings from the military, switched off its positioning device and collided with an Iranian fishing boat.