Iran to meet nuclear deal partners amid tanker crisis

It calls itself guardian of security in the Gulf as tensions escalate

An image grab taken from a broadcast by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Sunday showing Iranian speedboats patrolling around the tanker Stena Impero anchored off the port city of Bandar Abbas.
An image grab taken from a broadcast by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Sunday showing Iranian speedboats patrolling around the tanker Stena Impero anchored off the port city of Bandar Abbas. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

TEHERAN • Iran said yesterday it will attend an urgent meeting with countries still party to the troubled nuclear deal, as it declared itself the "guardian of security" in the Gulf amid a tanker crisis.

Sunday's planned meeting is aimed at salvaging the hard-won 2015 deal, which has been on life-support since the United States withdrew from it last year and reimposed biting sanctions against Iran.

Amid rising hostilities with the US, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a tanker sailing under the flag of US ally Britain last Friday.

State television aired new footage of the crew aboard the Stena Impero tanker at the port of Bandar Abbas, after it was seized by Iran for allegedly breaking "international maritime rules".

In the video, the crew members - 18 Indians, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino - are seen sitting around a table on the ship as well as seemingly going about their daily routines.

The seizure of the Swedish-owned vessel has been seen as a tit-for-tat move after the British authorities detained an Iranian oil tanker on July 4 in the Mediterranean, on suspicion that it was shipping oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.

"Throughout history, Iran has been and will be the main guardian of security and free navigation" in the Gulf, President Hassan Rouhani said late on Monday in a meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi.

"There is still no adequate and lasting stability and security in the region," he added, emphasising that Teheran was not seeking to stoke tensions.

Since the US began reimposing sanctions on Iran, tensions have mounted, with drones shot down and oil tankers mysteriously attacked in the sensitive waters of the oil-rich Gulf.

US President Donald Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after the Islamic Republic downed a US drone.

Iran also said on Monday it had arrested 17 suspects and sentenced some to death after dismantling a Central Intelligence Agency spy network, a claim which was dismissed by Mr Trump as "totally false".

The nuclear deal meeting was requested by the European parties to discuss the "new situation", Iran said, referring to its reduced nuclear commitments under the deal in response to the US withdrawal.

"It was agreed to convene an extraordinary meeting of the JCPOA joint commission in Vienna on July 28," Iran's Foreign Ministry said, referring to the agreement's formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Teheran has already given up complying with some of the deal's limits on its nuclear programme in retaliation for the US withdrawal and what it sees as failure by the remaining parties to help it circumvent sanctions. The landmark deal had put curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for relief from sanctions.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has left for France to deliver a "written message" from President Rouhani to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the ministry's spokesman tweeted yesterday, without elaborating.

Mr Macron's top diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne had visited Iran on July 9 to "piece together a de-escalation" strategy and meet top Iranian officials.

Iran has threatened to take further measures if the remaining parties to the deal - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - do not help it circumvent US sanctions, especially to sell its oil.

It has since exceeded limits the deal had set on its enriched uranium and heavy water stockpiles, as well as passing a cap the deal had imposed on its uranium enrichment.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 24, 2019, with the headline Iran to meet nuclear deal partners amid tanker crisis. Subscribe