An Iranian ship "harassing" a British oil tanker a few days after her ship was captured by the United Kingdom

The incident occurred almost a week after British Royal Marines boarded and seized an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar. The Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, said that Britain would face "consequences" on the seizure of the Iranian oil tanker.

Washington:

Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard ships approached a British oil tanker in the Gulf on Wednesday to ask it to stop in Iranian waters nearby, but withdrew after a British warship warned them, American officials said.

The british ministry of Defence has no immediate comment.

The incident occurred almost a week after British Royal Marines boarded an Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1, off the coast of Gibraltar and seized it, suspecting that it was breaching sanctions by transporting oil to Syria.

Earlier Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Britain would face the "consequences" of the Iranian oil seizure.

Tensions between Iran and the US and its allies have risen sharply since Washington tightened economic sanctions against Iran and decided to reduce its oil exports to zero as part of a policy of "maximum pressure" to get Iran to stop actions that, he said, undermined regional relations. Security.

Iran responded to the sanctions by beginning to break the limits on its nuclear activities in a 2015 agreement with the world powers.

Several oil tankers were attacked in the waters off Iran's south coast in May and June, for which the United States accused Iran. Tehran denied any involvement.

Last month, Iran shot down an American drone near the Strait of Hormuz, pushing President Donald Trump to order air strikes in retaliation and then cancel them.

American officials, speaking anonymously, said that Wednesday's incident occurred while British Heritage was at the northern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

"HMS Montrose, of the Royal Navy, who was also present, pointed his weapon at the boats and warned them by radio, then they dispersed," said one of the officials.

"It was harassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage," said the other person responsible.