Update on Iran - July 22
Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:25 pm
BBC: Iran says it arrested CIA spies and sentenced some to death
Speaking shortly after the Iranian announced on the arrests, Mr Trump said: "It's getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49074162
Hours earlier, the UK's top diplomat had announced that Britain would be ramping up its military presence in the Gulf and working with Europe to establish a joint maritime protection force to patrol it.
The announcement came days after Iran seized a British tanker in the Gulf, a move widely seen as retaliation for the UK impounding an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar. "It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing this increased military presence in the Gulf," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons on Monday.
"We do not seek confrontation with Iran. We have taken every available opportunity to reduce confrontation," Hunt emphasized. But he described Iran's seizure of the British tanker as a violation of international law and "an act of state piracy." The UK, he said, "must also react to the world around us as it is and not how we wish it to be."
The joint UK-European force Hunt announced parallels a similar effort the US has been trying to launch called Operation Sentinel, and could represent another example of division between Washington and its European allies over how to deal with Iran.
Read: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/politics ... g-uk-gulf/
Speaking shortly after the Iranian announced on the arrests, Mr Trump said: "It's getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49074162
Hours earlier, the UK's top diplomat had announced that Britain would be ramping up its military presence in the Gulf and working with Europe to establish a joint maritime protection force to patrol it.
The announcement came days after Iran seized a British tanker in the Gulf, a move widely seen as retaliation for the UK impounding an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar. "It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing this increased military presence in the Gulf," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons on Monday.
"We do not seek confrontation with Iran. We have taken every available opportunity to reduce confrontation," Hunt emphasized. But he described Iran's seizure of the British tanker as a violation of international law and "an act of state piracy." The UK, he said, "must also react to the world around us as it is and not how we wish it to be."
The joint UK-European force Hunt announced parallels a similar effort the US has been trying to launch called Operation Sentinel, and could represent another example of division between Washington and its European allies over how to deal with Iran.
Read: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/politics ... g-uk-gulf/