Seizing Supertanker Grace in the Mediterranean near Strait of Gibraltar July 4, British Marines enforced European Union sanctions against Iran for its malign behavior in the Middle East and North Africa. Since signing the P5 + 1 [U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany] Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] July 15, 2015, Iran took its $150 billion in sanctions relief and $1.8 billion in cash to fund a proxy war with Yemen against Saudi Arabia, in addition to supplying rockets-and-arms to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Beirut seeking to topple Israel. Britain seized Supertanker Grace false-flagged from India, Pakistan or Ukraine. U.S. officials requested interdiction, knowing that Iran sought to get oil shipments to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. U.S. officials tracked Supertanker Grace as a violation of Iran’s restrictions on oil sales.
Only a day before the British seized the tanker with 28-crew from Pakistan, India and Ukraine, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran would enrich as much uranium as it wanted, essentially scuttling the JCPOA. President Donald Trump cancelled the U.S. involvement in the P5+1 May 8, 2018, prompting Iran’s aggressive actions, including sabotaging oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman using familiar Limpet mines. Seizing the Indian-Pakistani-Ukranian-flagged oil tanker, Britain acted not alone but on behalf of the EU. Carrying two-million barrels of Iranian oil to Syria, the U.S. asked the U.K. to interdict Supertanker Grace near the Gibraltar Strait. Former head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] Mohsen Rezei urged Iran to seize a British tanker. Seizing a British tanker would almost certainly prompt a military response.
Escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf started when Trump canceled the Iranian Nuke Deal last year but have been brewing for years. Trump’s new punitive economic sanctions prevent Iran from selling oil to U.S. allies, especially to the EU. Gibralter’s government confirmed that it detained the tanker and its 28-member crew. Iran called the U.K.’s action “piracy,” despite knowing the false-flag operation violated U.N., EU and U.S. sanctions. Iran has refused to come to the bargaining table, certainly not with the U.S., thinking Trump breached the Security Council agreement on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Since Trump pulled out the JCPOA, Iran says all bets are off when it comes to Iran ramping up its nuclear enrichment program. Rouhani said yesterday that Iran will enrich uranium to whatever level it wants, hoping for guarantees from the EU on Iranian oil sales.
Rouhani’s threat to ramp up uranium production starting July 7 to weapons grade prompted the EU to warn Iran there would be consequences. “If England does not release the Iranian oil tanker, the duty . . . [of Iran] is to respond and size one English oil tanker,” said Rezei, who presided over Iran’s oil tanker wars during the 1980s. Calling the U.K.’s seizure an “excellent move,” National Security Adviser John Bolton wholeheartedly backed Britain’s move. “America & our allies will continue to prevent regimes in Tehran & Damascus from profiting off this illicit trade,” Bolton said. When Iran downed a U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone over the Persian Gulf June 20, Trump decided not to respond militarily. Bolton urged Trump to respond or face more bold actions by Iran in the Gulf. Iran concluded that Trump didn’t respond militarily because he feared Iran’s ballistic missile capability.
Trump has put Iran on notice that any work on a nuclear weapon by Iran would be a red line. “When Iranian missiles are able to hit a stealth drone thousands of feet in the air, how easy would it be to hit an aircraft carrier in the sea?” asked Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Whatever Iran’s shenanigans with Limpet mines in the Gulf, Trump and the EU takes more seriously Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Kermani thinks the U.S. and EU are intimidated by Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal. Iran already exceeded its uranium stockpile of 300-kilograms permitted under the JCPOA July 1, prompting a stern warning from Trump. Making threats can “come back to bite you like nobody has bitten you before,” Trump said July 3, warning Iran to stop its uranium enrichment activity before it’s too late.
Taking Iran’s new uranium enrichment threats seriously, Germany’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Rainer Breul put Iran on notice. “We have taken note of this Iranian announcement,” Breul said. “We strongly urge Iran not to take this step,” warning Iran that the EU would enforce any-and-all sanctions existing before the July 15, 2015 JCPOA. Iran finds itself caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place, threatening more nuclear enrichment while, at the same time, demanding that the EU circumvent Trump’s economic sanctions. “We are in close contact with other participants on the [nuclear deal] on this,” Breul said, noting that any material breach by Iran would trigger “snap-back” provisions, hitting Iran with even more punitive economic sanctions. Under Trump’s economic sanctions, Iran’s currency has plummeted to one-quarter its value, leaving its economy in recession.
