LONDON/DUBAI, July 19 (WNM) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had captured a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf after Britain seized an Iranian vessel this month, ratcheting up tension along a vital international oil shipping route.
Britain said it was urgently seeking information about the Stena Impero after the tanker, which had been heading to a port in Saudi Arabia, suddenly changed course after passing through the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.
Tanker tracking service Marine Traffic showed that the U.K.-flagged, Swedish-owned Stena Impero last signaled its location near the Island of Larak in the highly sensitive waterway at 9:00 PM local time (1630 GMT).
Oil futures moved higher ahead of Friday's settlement, West Texas Intermediate oil prices, which had been trading little changed ahead of the news, saw its August contract CLQ19, +0.69% rise by 65 cents, or 1.2%, to $55.95 a barrel, while September Brent crude BRNU19, +1.02% added 63 cents, or 1%, to $62.56 a barrel.
A second tanker, the British-operated Mesdar, also made a sharp change of direction in the Gulf around the same time. But the Guards made no mention of a second vessel.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would talk to the United Kingdom after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it had seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf.
Trump made the comments to reporters outside the White House. The Revolutionary Guards said Iranian maritime authorities had requested the capture of the tanker for "not following international maritime regulations."
The incident risks further inflaming tensions between Tehran and the West, which have been increasingly strained since the United States withdraw from a nuclear deal with Iran and imposed sanctions.
Trump said he had also told Republican Senator Rand Paul he could get involved with Iran talks.
Paul had made a proposal to talk to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to U.S. media, but Trump said on Thursday he had not appointed him to any such position.
The Guards, an elite force under the command of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said they seized the Stena Impero at the request of Iranian authorities for "not following international maritime regulations," state television reported.
Refinitiv tracking data showed the British-operated and Liberian-flagged Mesdar also changed course sharply after entering the Gulf and started heading towards the Iranian coast, about 40 minutes after the Stena Impero shifted direction.
There was no immediate word from the Guards about the second tanker. Mesdar’s manager Norbulk said it was checking the report.
Iran had said it would retaliate against the seizure in Gibraltar and days later three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian ships backed off when confronted by a British navy ship.
"We are urgently seeking further information and assessing the situation following reports of an incident in the Gulf," a spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence said after the Stena Impero changed course.
A person familiar with the matter said the British government's emergency committee was meeting over the issue.
Prime Minister Theresa May's office declined to comment.
Refinitiv data showed the Stena Impero is a British-flagged vessel owned by Stena Bulk. It showed the vessel's destination as the Saudi port of Jubail on the Gulf.
The map tracking the ship showed it veering off course with a sharp turn north at about 1517 GMT and heading toward the Iranian coast.
The Mesdar made its shift toward Iran at about 1600 GMT.
"We received reports that the British Stena Impero oil tanker was causing incidents and, therefore, we asked the military to direct it to Bandar Abbas port for the necessary probes," Allahmorad Afifipour, head of the ports and maritime body of Hormozgan province, told Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday Iran would respond to Britain’s "piracy" over the seizure of the Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar.