After the seizure of an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil by British Royal Marines in Gibraltar on Thursday, British Ambassador to Tehran Robert Macaire was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs later in the day.

According to Iranian Foreign Ministry statement, as the ambassador appeared before the Foreign Ministry, Director of the Third Department of Western Europe described the UK move as unacceptable, and called for the immediate release of the oil tanker, given that it has been seized at the request of the US based on the information currently available.

Pointing to the fact that the oil tanker was sailing in the international waters, the Iranian diplomat described the UK Navy’s measure as being tantamount to maritime banditry and stressed that Britain has no right to impose its own unilateral sanctions or those of the European Union in an extraterritorial manner against the other countries.

The Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that Iran should seize a British oil tanker if London doesn’t return the Iranian tanker which was illegally seized by its forces on Thursday in Gibraltar.

“The Islamic Revolution was never an initiator of tension during its 40-year-old history, however, it has not hesitated to respond to bullies. If UK doesn’t return the Iranian tanker, the duty of responsible [Iranian] bodies is to seize a British oil tanker in a retaliatory measure,” he tweeted Friday in Persian.

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Mehr News Agency

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• Gibraltar