Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday appeared to suggest such a resolution, telling a Cabinet meeting, "If Britain steps away from the wrong actions in Gibraltar, they will receive an appropriate response from Iran.
However, the deal is unlikely to be a straight swap, which would embarrass the European Union and the Untied Kingdom and could encourage Iran to seize other ships off its coast, which borders an important global oil shipping route. The U. The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges is an effort to keep Tehran in a deal aimed at curbing its nuclear activity while allowing some uranium enrichment, an agreement the U.
Britain and other European powers remain committed to the deal , which could be used as leverage to pressure Iran into releasing the British tanker, the Stena Impero. A military solution to the impasse is highly unlikely and could dramatically escalate regional tensions.
Britain has reduced its naval forces over the years and while experts suggest that British special forces are likely to be able to seize the Stena Impero, the oil tanker would be too slow to exit Iranian waters safely. As foreign secretary, Johnson was forced to apologize after mistakenly saying Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe , a British-Iranian mother detained in Iran since , had been in the country training journalists. Impeachment Inquiry Politics U. Sections U. Follow NBC News.
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