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The United Kingdom announced Friday Friday (December 12th) the deployment of a second warship in the Persian Gulf, two days after an incident with the Iranian navy that tried, according to London, to prevent the passage of a British tanker. in the Strait of Hormuz.
With our correspondent in London , Muriel Delcroix
Relations between London and Tehran have steadily deteriorated in recent weeks and, in an extremely tense context, the British authorities did not want to take any risk. Vessel H MS Duncan will therefore travel to the Gulf to relay the Montrose frigate, already on site to continue to ensure the freedom of navigation vessels passing through the crucial strait of Ormuz.
What's more, London also raised the level of alert in Iranian territorial waters at the beginning of the week. The clash on Wednesday with three Iranian stars did not happen by chance: it follows the arrest by London of an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar who suspects he wanted to deliver oil to Syria in violation of sanctions European. The London intervention angered Iranian President Hassan Rohani who then warned the UK against retaliation.
For its part, the British government insists that the rotation between its two ships in the Gulf was programmed and was simply advanced. London says it does not want to increase tensions with Iran, but takes the risk with this show of force to address the opposite message to Tehran.