TEHRAN – British Ambassador to Tehran Rob Macaire says he had a good meeting with senior MP Mojtaba Zonnour.

“Good and detailed discussion on many issues with new Majles National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman, Hojjatoleslam Zonnour,” Macaire tweeted on Sunday.

“Important to keep these channels of discussion open,” he added.

Relations between Tehran and London started souring since July 4, when Britain’s naval forces unlawfully seized oil tanker Grace 1 and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of oil in the Strait of Gibraltar, under the pretext that the supertanker had been suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of the European Union’s unilateral sanctions against the Arab country.

Reports, however, said the confiscation took place at the request of the U.S. 

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials denounced the seizure as an act of “piracy” which would not go “unanswered”.

More than a week ago, Iranian forces seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz for involvement in an accident with an Iranian fishing boat, after the tanker ignored distress calls.

Allah-Morad Afifipour, head of Ports and Maritime Organization in southern Hormozgan Province, said that the 30,000-ton Stena Impero tanker had collided with a fishing boat on its route, adding that according to law, after an accident it is necessary that the causes are investigated.

MH/PA