The Iran crisis leaves the UK in a precarious position, stuck between the EU and Trump

Analysis: With resignations and the PM race hitting the Foreign Office the British response to a tanker being seized leaves a lot to be desired

Chris Stevenson
Tuesday 23 July 2019 00:00 BST
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Moment Iranian forces storm British oil tanker in Gulf

The Foreign Office is starting to look more like a department in Donald Trump’s administration – with top officials having resigned, been suspended or been busy trying to become prime minister. All of which is not very helpful in the middle of a major crisis with Iran.

The secretary of state, Jeremy Hunt, is unsure if he will have a job once he probably loses to Boris Johnson in the PM race; Alan Duncan – who deals with Europe and the Americas – has resigned as he doesn’t want to be in a Johnson government; and another high-ranking official, Mark Field, is currently suspended while an investigation takes place into his grabbing of a Greenpeace activist at an event.

With the seizing of the Stena Impero, Hunt and his office have fallen into the trap of trying to do too much with too little. Tehran had threatened to retaliate after the royal marines helped seize the Iranian tanker Grace 1 off the coast of Gibraltar for allegedly busting EU sanctions against Syria. The incident has exposed the small number of UK ships currently operational that could prevent such action, with ministers also being accused of taking their eye of the ball due to the all-encompassing issue of Brexit.

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