Ali Rabei, spokesman for the Hassan Rouhani administration, said the crisis involving the oil tankers belonging to the United Kingdom and Iran could be solved diplomatically. 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently seized the British oil tanker the Stena Impero in the Persian Gulf. The IRGC not only released video of the seizure, in which men dropped from a helicopter onto the tanker, but it also released video of the Islamic call to prayer from the loudspeaker of the British oil tanker. Two weeks ago, the UK had seized an Iranian tanker, Grace 1, off the coast of Gibraltar. The UK claims the Iranian tanker was carrying oil to the Syrian government, which is under an EU embargo. 

Rabei rejected similarities to the seizure of the tankers. “The British tanker was seized in Iranian waters,” Rabei said. The Iranian tanker was “seized illegally” in Spanish waters, even according to Spanish officials, he added. “We decided to implement international laws in our own waters” by seizing the British tanker, Rabei said.

Rabei said the British tanker committed a “legal violation” and Iran seized it “for the security of the region.” In response to countries asking Iran to release the seized British tanker, Rabei said, “Actually, we want these countries to say the same thing to the British.” He said the alleged violations committed by the British tanker included turning off their location device, entering via a southern path instead of through the Strait of Hormuz and ignoring repeated warnings.