Admiral Tony Radakin, the head of the British Royal Navy, has said that the United Kingdom does not support the United States’ policy of maximum pressure on Iran.

The UK had “been very clear” it did not support the Trump administration’s policy of maximum pressure on Iran, he told BBC in an interview published on Tuesday.

He said that the UK wanted to "de-escalate" tensions with Iran following the release of the Stena Impero.

On July 19, the 30,000-ton UK-flagged Stena Impero tanker was seized by Iranian naval forces, after it ignored distress call as it collided with a fishing boat on its route. The tanker was released in September.

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” policy against the country.

Iranian officials and analysts say the maximum pressure policy has failed.

Addressing a ceremony marking International Day for the People with Disability on December 3, President Hassan Rouhani highlighted the key role of the people’s “maximum resistance” against the U.S. maximum pressure.

Rouhani said in October that the Iranian nation has successfully passed the difficult test of countering the “maximum pressure” policy of the ill-wishers.

First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri also said in October that Iran has succeeded to defeat the U.S. policy of maximum pressure.

“We have defeated the United States’ policy of maximum pressure and they are aware that this plan does not work against Iran,” he said.

Abbas Araqchi, a top nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, has said Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran has produced “maximum resistance”.

In an interview with NPR published on September 22, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran will not succumb to economic pressure by Washington.

“Abandon the illusion that Iran can be defeated by pressure,” he said.

“We are resisting an unprovoked aggression by the United States. I can assure you that the United States will not be able to bring us to our knees through pressure,” he noted.

Zarif also told CGTN in an interview aired on September 22 that Washington’s policy of sanction and pressure against Iran has not worked.

“The United States is running out of options. It is desperate. The policy of maximum pressure has not worked,” he said.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran bankrupt.

“We have been pressuring them. Maximum pressure… we’re seeing the unfolding of really a bankruptcy of approach,” Kerry told CBS News.

NA/PA