Iran warns UK against escalating tensions, says crew of seized ship safe

Britain has called Iran’s capture of the Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday a “hostile act”

International News: Iran’s ambassador to Britain warned against escalating tensions on Sunday as a UK official declined to rule out sanctions in response to Tehran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker. Britain has called Iran’s capture of the Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday a “hostile act”. Britain needs to contain “those domestic political forces who want to escalate existing tension between Iran and the UK well beyond the issue of ships,” Iran’s envoy to Britain Hamid Baeidinejad said on Twitter.

“This is quite dangerous and unwise at a sensitive time in the region,” he said, adding that Iran “is firm and ready for different scenarios.” Britain’s junior defence minister Tobias Ellwood did not rule out the possibility of targeting Tehran with sanctions in response.

“Our first and most important responsibility is to make sure that we get a solution to the issue to do with the current ship, make sure other British-flagged ships are safe to operate in these waters and then look at the wider picture,” Ellwood told Sky News.

Asked about the possibility of sanctions, he said: “We will be speaking with our colleagues, our international allies, to see what can actually be done.” Tehran’s seizure of the Stena Impero followed the July 4 capture by Royal Marines of the Grace 1 tanker carrying Iranian oil near Gibraltar. British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt on Saturday said Tehran’s actions showed “worrying signs Iran may be choosing a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour after Gibraltar’s legal detention of oil bound for Syria.”

In a letter to the UN Security Council, Britain said the Stena Impero was approached by Iranian forces in Omani territorial waters where it was exercising its lawful right of passage, and that the action “constitutes illegal interference.” British warship HMS Montrose radioed an Iranian patrol vessel to warn it against boarding the Stena Impero, according to radio messages provided to Reuters by maritime security firm Dryad Global.

Oil price to rise? Millions of barrels of Iran oil piled up in China ports

The store of oil has the potential to push down global prices if Chinese refiners decide to draw on it

International News: Tankers are offloading a huge number of barrels of Iranian oil into capacity tanks at Chinese ports, making a crowd of unrefined sitting on the doorstep of the world’s greatest purchaser.

Over two months after the White House restricted the buy of Iran’s oil, the country’s unrefined is proceeding to be sent to China where it’s being put into what’s known as “fortified capacity,” state individuals acquainted with activities at a few Chinese ports. This oil doesn’t cross neighborhood traditions or appear in the country’s import information and isn’t really in break of assents. And keeping in mind that it stays unavailable for general use until further notice, its quality is approaching over the market.

The store of Iran oil can possibly push down worldwide costs if Chinese purifiers choose to draw on it, even as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners check generation in the midst of moderating development in real economies. It additionally enables Iran to continue siphoning and draw its oil closer to potential purchasers.

“Iranian oil shipments have been streaming into Chinese fortified capacity for certain months now, and keep on doing as such notwithstanding expanded investigation,” said Rachel Yew, an investigator at industry specialist FGE in Singapore. “We can perceive any reason why the maker would need to do as such, as a development of provisions close key purchasers is unmistakably gainful for a vender, particularly if approvals are facilitated eventually.”

There could be progressively Iranian oil set out toward China’s reinforced stockpiling tanks, Bloomberg transport following information appear. In any event ten extremely huge rough transporters and two littler tankers claimed by the state-run National Iranian Oil Company and its transportation arm are at present cruising toward China or sitting off its coast. The vessels have a joined conveying limit of more than 20 million barrels…