‘OBEY AND YOU WILL BE SAFE’

Audio Released of Tense Exchange Between Iranian Forces and British Navy Before Oil Tanker Was Seized

The British Navy tried to intervene before Iranians seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.

The maritime security risk firm Dryad Global has released an audio clip of a tense exchange between the British Navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard before the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero was seized in the Strait of Hormuz Friday. On Saturday, an Iranian council called the seizure “reciprocal” after an Iranian supertanker was seized in Gibraltar in early July. The new audio shows how the British Navy tried in vain to stop Iranian forces from sailing towards the ship. The Iranian official can be heard repeating the warning, “you obey, you will be safe” as the British naval officer warned the Iranians to alter course. The officer on the British HMS Montrose frigate then told the crew of the Stena Impero to stay its course. “Sir, I reiterate that as you are conducting transit passage in a recognized international strait, under international law your passage must not be impaired, intruded, obstructed or hampered,” the officer said before the ship was seized.