Iran Releases Video Allegedly Showing IRGC Rappelling onto UK Tanker’s Deck from Helicopter

On Friday, a UK-flagged tanker was seized in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after it allegedly violated international regulations. The UK condemned the move calling the act 'unacceptable'. The seizure comes amid UK-Iranian tensions that spiked after Britain seized an Iranian supertanker near Gibraltar.

The Fars News Agency has uploaded video footage showing Iranian Revolutionary Guards rappelling onto the detained UK-registered oil tanker in the Straits of Hormuz. Speedboats were also seen alongside the vessel.

pic.twitter.com/UvIG3x1SsE

— Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) July 20, 2019

​Earlier, Iran's Tasnim News Agency posted a video of the detained UK oil tanker Stena Impero anchored out at open sea.

🎥 تصاویر جدید از توقیف #نفتکش_انگلیسی pic.twitter.com/PMyXiEfcXR

— خبرگزاری تسنیم 🇮🇷 (@Tasnimnews_Fa) July 20, 2019

Earlier, Fars News Agency reported that all 23 crew members on the detained tanker were now at the port of Bandar Abbas and will remain aboard the vessel until the end of the investigation.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrested a UK-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero, on Friday amid an accident involving the vessel and a fishing boat.

Separately, a Liberian-flagged ship, the Mesdar, was also detained by the IRGS but was later released.

The seizure of the UK vessel was met with indignation by several top political figures, with UK Foreign Secretary Hunt calling the incident 'unacceptable'.

The incident comes amid the intensified tensions between London and Tehran after Iranian supertanker Grace 1 was detained off the coast of Gibraltar earlier this month.