TEHRAN – The British act according to anti-Iran plots orchestrated by the United States, a lawmaker said on Tuesday, invoking the British government’s seizure of a supertanker carrying Iranian oil.

“The British showed right after seizing the oil tanker that they moved according to plans designed by the U.S.,” said Mohammad Ebrahim Rezee, a member of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

Rezee said after the U.S. became isolated in confronting Iran, it attempted to bring other countries on board with its policies, ISNA reported.

“In the current situation, the only way the British have is to respect Iran and release our oil tanker,” he remarked. “If this happens, we will release their oil tanker as well, because we are not seeking to continue tensions.”

“It’s them who create tensions,” the MP asserted.

Tensions broke out between Tehran and London on July 4, after 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 leaders denounced the seizure as act of “piracy” which would not go “unanswered”.

On Friday, 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