Britain must seek to reduce tension but its first duty is to protect ships and crews The boarding and holding of the tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar , while allegedly carrying Iranian crude oil to Syria, in breach of European Union sanctions regime, was clearly going to provoke a response. Indeed, the Tehran regime clearly articulated the fact that they would do something in retaliation. Having already carried out a number of attacks on international tankers in and around the strait of Hormuz, a week ago, an attempt was made to take a British-flag registered ship, the BP British Heritage . It was only thwarted by the close presence of HMS Montrose. Continue reading...