London: At around 4pm last Friday, July 19, four fast boats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard surrounded a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
Masked gunmen in desert camouflage rappelled from a helicopter to the deck of the Stena Impero as British navy frigate HMS Montrose stormed towards the scene, too far away to do anything but issue stern warnings over the radio.
Iran intended the hijack as a tit-for-tat for the prior seizure of an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar, allegedly en route to Syria with oil supplies in violation of EU sanctions. But it has drawn Britain further into a fight it really doesn’t want right now.
With a brand new government, new prime minister, new foreign secretary, new defence secretary and just 97 days until Brexit, the last thing Boris Johnson’s as-yet-barely-briefed squad needs is a sensitive diplomatic and military skirmish in the Middle East.
But that’s what they have. Though there are signs Iran wants to calm the situation down, perhaps with a ship swap, Britain has already committed to a military response. And it threatens to – long before they’re ready – test some of this government’s fundamental beliefs about where they want to stand in the world. Are they Europeans or Team Trump? Are they interventionist and assertive, or soft power specialists?
What does their much-touted slogan, “Global Britain”, actually stand for when push comes to shove?
Read the article by Nick Miller in The Sydney Morning Herald.