Political opportunism feeding rising tensions with Iran

What on earth did the UK government expect to happen (Iran stokes tensions in the Gulf by seizing British-linked oil tankers, 20 July)? By detaining the Iranian tanker Grace 1 weeks ago, apparently at the behest of the US, the UK immediately put at risk not only the safety of all British-flagged shipping operating in the Gulf, but also the efforts to rescue the nuclear deal with Iran.

The sensible approach, using all diplomatic means to organise a quid pro quo deal on the tankers, with the future release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe also included, is probably asking too much of a government so in thrall to Trump’s Twitter account. Instead Britain’s response will more likely be one aimed at getting his approval, threatening Iran with dire consequences without, of course, stating what they might be.

All Tories will bemoan the fact that not enough spare naval vessels are available to escort the tankers through the strait of Hormuz, and use it to ensure defence spending gets a massive boost as soon as Johnson can fix it. If Tory politicians were capable of such joined-up thinking, it would be conceivable that the government’s behaviour was designed for just that outcome.

Alleged “patriotic” wars can prove extremely beneficial electorally for rightwing governments. The more ships patrolling in the Gulf, the increased likelihood there is of other “incidents” taking place. No one should forget how the Vietnam war formally started in 1964, with the American government “misrepresenting” a supposed attack in the Gulf of Tonkin on the USS Maddox on 2 August, and US warships firing on the “Tonkin ghosts” two days later.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool

• As the threat to shipping escalates in the strait of Hormuz, and MPs warn that Britain has not invested sufficiently in meeting emerging international threats, there’s a lesson to be learned from the last 10 years’ experience of counter-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean. At the peak of pirate attacks in 2011, 32 ships and 736 hostages were held by pirates. Five years later that number was zero, and has remained that way. This success was due to Operation Atalanta, a multilateral flotilla of warships organised by the EU.

Operation Atalanta was coordinated by the UK from a headquarters in Northwood. On 29 March this year – the date determined for Brexit, which wasn’t subject to prevarication for reasons of military planning – the headquarters were transferred to Spain. I leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions about Brexit and British maritime power.
Alex de Waal
World Peace Foundation

• A mini-war, somewhere remote – just what the Tories need as they destroy what is left of a decent Britain and take us over the Brexit cliff. Just like the Falklands war did for Margaret Thatcher as she set in train her appalling policies which have resulted in all our public services being run by foreign-owned companies, including European state-run ventures such as Deutsche Bahn, Électricité de France and even Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch-state railway company. And they dare to talk about “taking back control”. And the Labour party whistles in the wind. I give up.
David Reed
London

• Nobody seems to have noticed (though I bet a leading Tory leadership contender has) that the title of the tanker impounded by Iran (Stena Impero) literally means “I rule the straits”. The stena is Greek, the impero Latin. Is that a provocation or what, given the extreme delicacy of the location?
James Gordon
St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex

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