Royal Navy to guard British ships in Strait of Hormuz

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Britain’s Royal navy will escort British-flagged vessels through the Straight of Hormuz, the U.K. government said Thursday.

Ship owners have been asked to notify the Department of Transport about their passage through the strait that came under attention following Iran’s move to seize British-flagged Stena Impero last week.

A frigate, HMS Montrose, has been tasked to sail along the ships using the strait for protection.

The government previously asked all tankers and other vessels under British involvement to avoid passing the strait for an "interim period".

Britain denounced the Iranian seizure of the oil tanker as a "hostile act" following the incident, which the U.K. claims happened in Omani waters.

The U.K. sent a mediator to Iran, according to Iranian officials.

U.K.’s former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Monday accused Iran of “state piracy” for detaining the British ship, urging it to release the vessel and its crew immediately.

The seizure of British-flagged ship came following the seizure of an Iranian-flagged tanker weeks ago by Gibraltar -- a British oversees territory.

Royal navy marines and commandos boarded the Syria-bound Iranian oil tanker on July 4 in Gibraltar, preventing the vessel from entering the Mediterranean.

Iran has demanded the release of its crew and vessel, accusing the royal navy of piracy, and has threatened London with retaliatory measures, rhetoric that is raising tensions between the two nations in a region already inflamed with war and brinkmanship with the West.

The EU had imposed a series of sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria in response to the heavy crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in 2011 and the ensuing civil war.