UK Warns of Iranian Attempts to Bring Ships into its Waters

Illustrative: The oil tanker Mercer Street, which came under attack last week off Oman, is seen moored off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021 (AP)
Illustrative: The oil tanker Mercer Street, which came under attack last week off Oman, is seen moored off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021 (AP)
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UK Warns of Iranian Attempts to Bring Ships into its Waters

Illustrative: The oil tanker Mercer Street, which came under attack last week off Oman, is seen moored off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021 (AP)
Illustrative: The oil tanker Mercer Street, which came under attack last week off Oman, is seen moored off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021 (AP)

A warning has gone out to seafarers in the Arabian Gulf over what appear to be attempts by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to compel ships to enter Iranian waters.

A notice from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center on Friday said that there had been “several incidents involving VHF radio challenges to vessels.”

“It is assessed that these are most likely part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ large-scale exercise, Great Prophet XVIII,” the UKMTO said.

Iran has been engaged in an extraordinary two-month-long military exercise across the country after being twice hit by Israel in retaliation for attacks against it during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

While Iran has a history of harassing and impounding vessels, it hasn’t directly launched many such attacks recently. Instead, the Iran-backed Houthi group have been attacking ships since November 2023, a campaign that now appears to be winding down after the ceasefire in Gaza.

Iranian media reported a likely Guard exercise in the Arabian Gulf coming this weekend as well.



Military Confrontation Seems Inevitable If No New Iran Nuclear Deal, France Says

 France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during the Forum d'affaires Franco-Chinois in Shanghai on March 28, 2025. (AFP)
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during the Forum d'affaires Franco-Chinois in Shanghai on March 28, 2025. (AFP)
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Military Confrontation Seems Inevitable If No New Iran Nuclear Deal, France Says

 France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during the Forum d'affaires Franco-Chinois in Shanghai on March 28, 2025. (AFP)
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during the Forum d'affaires Franco-Chinois in Shanghai on March 28, 2025. (AFP)

The window to reach a new deal to curb Iran's nuclear program is narrow and if it is not achieved then a military confrontation seems "almost inevitable", French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.

"We only have a few months until the expiration of this (2015) accord," he told a parliamentary hearing. "In case of failure, a military confrontation would seem to be almost inevitable."

Barrot added that new European Union sanctions on Tehran linked to the detention of foreign citizens in Iran would also be approved in the coming weeks.