UK shipping operator says Filipino among seamen onboard seized oil tanker



LONDON, United Kingdom - A Filipino was among the 23 seamen onboard the British oil tanker Stena Impero when it was seized by Iranian forces on Friday in the Strait of Hormuz.
"There are 23 seafarers onboard of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino nationality," said Erik Hanell, president and chief executive of the operator, Stena Bulk.
"There have been no reported injuries and the safety and welfare of our crew remains our primary focus," he added.
The British operator of the oil tanker said the Stena Impero was in full compliance with all navigation and international regulations.
The tanker was boarded by armed guards earlier on Friday.
Iran said it had seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday but denied Washington's assertion that the US Navy had downed an Iranian drone nearby this week, as tensions in the Gulf region rose again.
Britain said it was urgently seeking information about the Stena Impero tanker, which had been heading to a port in Saudi Arabia and suddenly changed course after passing through the strait at the mouth of the Gulf.
The tanker's operator, Stena Bulk, said in a statement the ship was no longer under the crew's control and could not be contacted.
Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted a military source as saying the vessel had turned off its tracker, ignored warnings from the Revolutionary Guards and was sailing in the wrong direction in a shipping lane.
"We will respond in a way that is considered but robust and we are absolutely clear that if this situation is not resolved quickly there will be serious consequences," British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters.
Hunt said Britain was "not looking at military options, we are looking at a diplomatic way to resolve the situation."
Relations between Washington and Tehran worsened last year when US President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran. Under the pact, Iran agreed to restrict nuclear work, long seen by the West as a cover for developing atomic bombs, in return for lifting sanctions. But sanctions have been imposed again, badly hurting Iran's economy.
Trump said he would talk to Britain about Friday's seizure, which drove oil prices up above $62 a barrel.
The United States has blamed Iran for a series of attacks since mid-May on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran rejects the allegations.
The incidents have increased international concern that both sides could blunder into a war in the strategic waterway, which is vital to world oil supplies.
Iran shot down a US drone in the Gulf in June and British naval forces seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar on July 4 on suspicion of smuggling oil to Syria.
The US military said on Friday that unarmed surveillance aircraft were in international airspace, monitoring the Strait of Hormuz and had been in contact with US ships in the area.
"We have patrol aircraft operating in international airspace monitoring the situation within the Strait of Hormuz," said Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown, a US Central Command spokesman. — Reuters

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