Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Gulf standoff with Iran is more proof that the dream of ‘Global Britain’ has shrunk before it has even begun

At a time when we need them most, bilateral disagreements and conflicts of interest with a number of nations have left us with very few friends. The soon-to-be prime minister has a lot of pieces to pick up, at home as abroad

Mary Dejevsky
Thursday 11 July 2019 17:54 BST
Comments
Iranian boats attempt to intercept British oil tanker before Navy frigate 'turns guns on vessels'

Now you could argue that a small and successful show of military might is just the sort of distraction the UK government is in need of at a time when it is beleaguered on so many fronts. Less so, I would imagine, a naval clash with Iran in or near disputed waters in the Gulf, and there are many questions hanging over what exactly happened on 10 July.

One question might be why the first news of a stand-off between a British frigate in defence of an Isle-of-Man flagged commercial tanker and three (scaled back from the initial five) Iranian gunboats came not from the UK’s own authorities, but from the United States (which, incidentally, had one of its surveillance aircrafts overhead).

Another might be where exactly the reported confrontation took place: was the tanker, British Heritage, in international, or disputed, waters? The UK Ministry of Defence is quite clear that the frigate, HMS Montrose, was in international waters “at all times”, but it declined to comment on the location of the tanker.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in