New Delhi: Tensions are continuing to rise between Iran and the West, specifically the US and the UK.
On Monday, July 22, Iran announced the arrest of 17 alleged spies accused of working with the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This follows the seizure of a British oil tanker by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday, July 19, in retaliation for the ongoing detention of an Iranian tanker by the British Navy in Gibraltar.
The arrests occurred over a period of a year, with the last arrest in March 2019, according to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.
The Ministry of Intelligence added that the individuals arrested worked on “sensitive sites” in the country’s military and nuclear facilities. It also claims that all 17 detainees confessed to spying for the CIA, according to CNN. Some were sentenced to death, though the number of death sentences was not disclosed, while others were sentenced to “long-term imprisonment.”
The US hasn’t confirmed the arrest of the accused operatives. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox News on Monday, saying he couldn’t directly comment on intelligence issues.
“The Iranian regime has a long history of lying… I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions they’ve taken,” Pompeo said.
US President Donald Trump tweeted hours after the report writing: “The report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a religious regime that is badly failing and has no idea what to do. Their economy is dead and it will get much worse. Iran is a total mess.”
Iranian state TV published photos claiming to show CIA officers who worked with the accused spies.
But without confirmation, it is hard to determine the validity of the Iranian claims.
This isn’t the first time Iran claimed it arrested spies colluding with the CIA. According to the Washington Post, “Iran has previously announced the identification US spy rings, including the announcement of the dissolving of a similar network last month.”
Nevertheless, the announcement’s timing assumes significance due to the months elapsing between the last arrest combined with ongoing escalation between Iran, the US and the UK.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has now been succeeded by Boris Johnson, chaired a meeting on Monday to discuss what “robust” action her government should take against Tehran after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized a British oil tanker from the Strait of Hormuz. The Stena Impero was accused of “violating international maritime rules” for colliding with a fishing boat and failing to respond to calls from the vessel, according to Iran’s state-run news agency.
An Iranian guard looks on at oil docks at the port of Kalantari in the city of Chabahar, 300km (186 miles) east of the Strait of Hormuz. Photo:
REUTERS/RAHEB HOMAVANDI
The tanker’s 23 crew members, who are Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino have been questioned but are in good health, according to the BBC and Reuters. The UK told Iran to immediately release the ship and crew.
In a letter to the UN, the UK insists its tanker was in line with international law while navigating the passage and Iran’s actions were “unacceptable and highly escalatory.”
The seizure in the Strait isn’t out of the blue. Tehran warned of a possible response to the UK’s “piracy” after Royal Marines captured an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar over two weeks ago. According to the BBC, the Royal Marines seized Grace 1, the Iranian tanker, based on evidence that it was breaching European Union sanctions by carrying oil to Syria.
The seizure of the British tanker happened just hours after the announcement that Grace 1 would be held for 30 additional days, according to CNN. Iran sees the situation as “tit-for-tat” says UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt “but nothing could be further from the truth,” according to the BBC.
“They came to the Persian Gulf. Now they have to watch that they should not undermine our sovereignty, our territorial integrity or our security – and then we won’t have a war,” Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif told PBS News Hour.
On Monday, Hunt announced that the most recent seizure was an “act of state piracy” and the UK will respond by creating a European-led maritime protection mission to ensure “freedom of navigation in the Strait.”
In terms of diplomacy with Iran, the UK and the US imposed strict economic and financial sanctions on Iran, which has called “economic terrorism.”
The US reimposed sanctions in November 2018 after withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal months earlier. In April 2019, the US labeled Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “terrorist group” and tightened sanctions. Iranian legislators responded by approving a Bill labeling all US military forces “terrorists.”
The UK continues to recognise the nuclear deal, though if it decides to re-impose sanctions, “that move would dampen any hope of preserving the nuclear deal,” according to the New York Times. However, the UK and other EU countries have been “developing alternative trading systems that would allow Iran to bypass US sanctions.”
On Monday, Hunt further separated the UK’s efforts from the US by saying that “it will not be part of the US’s maximum pressure on Iran because we remain committed to the Iran nuclear agreement.”
While Pompeo said it was “up to the UK to take care of their tanker.” The wildcard, however, is that on Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson took over from May as prime minister. He has previously made political moves to align the UK closer to the US, so he may take an alternative approach to Iranian diplomacy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Yates
Since May, the US has blamed Iran for attacks on tankers in the Strait, a claim which Iran denies. Furthermore, the US launched two cyberattacks on Iran in retaliation to an Iranian spy group and the downing of a US drone, according to CNN.
Both the US and Iran claim to have been downing the other’s drones.
Iran shot down a US drone accused of crossing borders though the US claims it was in international airspace. On July 18, the US Navy claims to have downed an Iranian drone accused of using electronic jamming technology, which Iran denies.
The closest the countries have come to the brink of war in this skirmish was when Trump ordered a missile strike on Iran. He called the missile off just minutes before launch.
Besides the potential to disrupt the global oil trade, which could have major economic repercussions worldwide, the escalation and potential war could further destabilize the region.
This is not the first time the US and the UK are exerting pressure on Iran with a view to destabilising its government.
In 1953, both countries orchestrated a coup to oust democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq. That coup was in part a response to Mossadeq’s goals of nationalising the country’s oil industry.
After continued tensions in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the US was caught secretly shipping weapons to Iran. In the early 2000s, President Bush declared Iran part of the “Axis of Evil” during the US’s “war on terrorism”, which coincided with heightened Western anxiety over Iran’s civilian nuclear program. After nearly a decade of sanctions, the US and its allies reached a deal with Iran for resolution of the nuclear issue. The same nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from only a few years later.
While olive branches have been offered over the years, the world is waiting for the next diplomatic moves to determine if tensions will continue to rise. Now that the UK decided to increase international maritime presence, how will Iran react? How valid is Iran’s spy-ring bust? Will the US confirm or retaliate?
These are questions the whole of the Middle East is asking. The answers, people in the region know, will make all the difference between war and peace.