UK summons Iranian ambassador over tanker attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The UK summoned the Iranian ambassador on Monday over an attack on an Israeli-managed oil tanker that killed two people, urging Iran to stop actions “that risk international peace.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) summoned Mohsen Baharvand over the attack on the Mercer Street merchant vessel on July 29, according to an official statement.

The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, James Cleverly, “reiterated that Iran must immediately cease actions that risk international peace and security, and reinforced that vessels must be allowed to navigate freely in accordance with international law.”

The UK, US and Israel have blamed the attack, which killed a British and Romanian national off the coast of Oman, on Iran. On Sunday, Westminster condemned the “the unlawful and callous” attack and said it believed it “was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran.”

The US also said that “we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs.”

“The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terrorism that also harms freedom of shipping,” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted on Saturday.

“The whole world needs to put up a wall in a form - political and security - against Iran,” he said on Sunday.

On Monday Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the UK and US accusations as “baseless.”

“It is unfortunate that while these countries have remained silent in support of terrorist attacks and sabotage of Iranian merchant ships in the Red Sea and international waters, in a clear political bias, they are making false accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he was quoted by Iranian state media as saying.

“Iran has the largest water border in the Persian Gulf and is always ready to cooperate with regional countries in providing maritime security in these waters,” he added.