Free Republic

Iran has hoisted the Iranian national flag over the seized British oil tanker, Stena Impero, as Tehran taunts Britain in new footage broadcast on state TV.State-controlled news outlet Press TV also showed footage of Iranian armed forces patrolling the decks of the oil tanker after it was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.The clip appears to have been recorded in the southern port of Bandar Abbas.

President Trump on Monday denied Iran’s claim that it dismantled an elaborate U.S. spy ring tasked with monitoring key military sites, dismissing the reports as a “totally false story” amid rising tensions between Tehran and the West. Iran said that its intelligence forces identified and arrested 17 Iranians suspected of spying for the CIA and that some of them have been sentenced to death. The announcement adds to concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program and its efforts to impede shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

DUBAI —A British warship tried but failed to prevent Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from seizing a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz last week, intercepted radio communications show, fueling a wave of recriminations in London on Sunday over who was to blame for the incident last week. In recordings obtained by the shipping consultancy Dryad Global and posted on its website Sunday, a member of the Revolutionary Guard is heard ordering the British-flagged Stena Impero tanker to divert course toward Iran. “Alter your course,” the man says. “If you obey you will be safe.” A British naval officer...

A British-flagged oil tanker was seized by Iran on Friday night and was heading towards a Revolutionary Guard base, in a major escalation of tensions along one of the world's most vital oil shipping routes. The Stena Impero had been en route to Saudi Arabia but made an abrupt change of course and began moving towards the Iranian island of Qeshm, according to data relayed by maritime tracking services. The ship “went dark”, meaning its identification system was turned off, at 16:29 UK time and nothing has been heard from her or her 23 crew since. Northern Marine, a Clyde-based...