The recording, obtained by a British maritime security company, contains repeated warnings from both sides in which the Navy tells Iran what it is about to do is “a violation of international law.”
A newly released audio recording has revealed tense exchanges between the British Royal Navy and the Iranian military on the eve of the seizure of a British oil tanker.
In clip recorded during Friday’s incident, an Iranian vessel can be heard repeatedly warning the British-flagged Stena Impero to change course, saying: “If you obey, you will be safe. whole.”
HMS Montrose could then be heard saying to the tanker: “When you are transiting through a recognized international strait, under international law your passage must not be affected, obstruct, obstruct or obstruct.”
It then informed Iran that any attempt to board the Impero would be a “violation of international law,” in the three-minute clip obtained by maritime security firm Dryad Global.
Speedboats will then surround the ship and fully-dressed Iranian troops climb onto the deck, with footage of the dramatic scenes released yesterday by Iran’s Fars news agency.
Since then, it has been suggested that Impero may have been sent fake coordinates using Russian spy technology.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the Impero in the Strait of Hormuz, the oil industry’s most important shipping route, accusing it of “violating international maritime rules”.
HMS Montrose ran to support Impero but it was too late.
Foreign Secretary and Tory hopeful Jeremy Hunt dismissed Iran’s claims that the ship was wrong, saying Iran’s actions were a “clear violation of international law”.
Stena Bulk, which owns the tanker, said it was in international waters at the time of the seizure.
Impero’s crew, Filipinos, Russians, Latvians and Indians, was informed this morning by an Iranian official in good health at the port of Bander Abbas.
Mr Hunt said that Iran views the seizure as a legitimate response to the Royal Marines that helped seize an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar earlier this month.
It is believed that Grace 1 was carrying oil to Syria against EU sanctions, but Iran denies that and describes the seizure as an act of “piracy”.
But Friday’s action was formally reported to the United Nations by Britain yesterday as “illegal interference”.
Mr Hunt wrote on Twitter: “Just spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and expressed extreme disappointment for assuring me last Saturday that Iran wanted to de-escalate, but it did the opposite. “
It is now thought that the UK could begin deploying Marines on UK ships passing through the Channel to prevent future confrontations.
HMS Duncan was sent to join Montrose in the Gulf.
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