July 29 (UPI) -- Iran released a video Monday showing its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ordering a British navy ship not to interfere as it seized an oil tanker on July 19, heightening tensions between the two countries.
The IRGC captured the Stena Impero tanker near the Strait of Hormuz nearly two weeks after the British Marines captured the Iranian Grace 1 tanker near Gibraltar for allegedly violating sanctions by attempting to transport oil to Syria.
State-run PressTV said the British tanker was attempting to flee the scene after colliding with an Iranian fishing boat.
"British warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah navy patrol boat. You are required not to interfere in this issue," an Iranian naval officer can be heard saying in the video to the British ship HMS Montrose.
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The British responded: "This is British warship Foxtrot 236: I am in the vicinity of an internationally recognized strait with a merchant vessel in my vicinity conducting transit passage."
The IRGC responded by telling the British warship, "Don't put your life in danger."
The Britain Navy ship appeared to then back off, saying, "This is British warship Foxtrot 236, go ahead."
Iran charged that the British capture of the Grace 1 tanker illegal. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told reporters Monday Britain's latest move to impound the Grace 1 violated the 2015 multinational nuclear deal.
Five Iranian gunboats tried earlier this month to stop the British Heritage tanker in the Strait of Hormuz but backed down following a warning from the HMS Montrose.
