BICOM

The UK is to establish a new maritime security force to protect ships from Iranian piracy in the Gulf and Straits of Hormuz.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Because freedom of navigation is a vital interest of every nation, we will now seek to put together a European-led maritime protection mission to support safe passage of both crew and cargo in this vital region. We have had constructive discussions with a number of countries in the last 48 hours and will discuss later this week the best way to complement this with recent US proposals in this area.”

Hunt said that he had discussed the new force with his counterparts in Germany, France, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan will arrive in the region on 29 July to relieve HMS Montrose. Hunt also stressed that that while the UK was not seeking “confrontation” with Iran, Tehran would have to accept “a larger Western military presence in the waters along their coastline” as a consequence of its present “dangerous path”.

The Foreign Secretary also confirmed that the US had asked the UK to contribute to a US-led maritime protection force on 24 June. Hunt said the UK declined the offer to join because it did not want to be associated with the US campaign of maximum pressure against Iran and sought a broad multinational naval protection force. Hunt stressed that the UK-led maritime force would “always operate in partnership” with the US because “they have a vital role for example in the refuelling of our own ships, the communication system, the command and control system, and indeed intelligence support”.

Hunt did warn, however, that the UK could not provide security for every single ship in the Gulf but suggested that risk from piracy could be reduced if commercial shipping companies “cooperated fully with government advice”.

On Friday, a UK-flagged oil tanker, the Stena Impero, was surrounded by four Iranian vessels and a helicopter, before being impounded by Iranian forces. The seizure is believed to be a retaliation for the UK seizure of the Grace 1 super-tanker off the Straits of Gibraltar, for carrying Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions.