LONDON: Britain has confirmed it helped the United States during an operation to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic.
UK officials said the assistance was provided after a request from Washington, stressing that the support was lawful and limited, even as the move drew sharp criticism from Moscow.
The vessel had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.
“UK Armed Forces provided pre-planned operational support … to US military assets interdicting the Bella-1 in the UK–Iceland–Greenland gap following a US request for assistance,” the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
A Royal Navy ship “provided support for US forces pursuing and interdicting” the vessel – which recently changed its name to the Marinera – while the Royal Air Force (RAF) provided “surveillance support from the air,” it added in a statement.
“The UK and US defence and security relationship is the deepest in the world and the UK provided enabling support in full compliance with international law,” the ministry insisted.
The seized tanker had been sanctioned by Washington under measures targeting Iran, and had been “initially flying a false flag”, according to the MoD.
The vessel had “turned off its transponders while at sea and sought to reflag while being pursued, indicating its nefarious links to global sanctions evasion,” it added.
Recent assessments showed the tanker has been involved in illegal activity, “linked to international terrorism and crime including Hezbollah”, the Iranian-backed Lebanese force, the ministry said.
“The Russian flagging of the vessel shows their role in this interconnected shadow activity we are seeing across the world, which threatens our national security, harms our economy and undermines global security,” it added.
Defence minister John Healey said in a statement Britain “will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy, and global stability”.
“The US is the UK’s closest defence and security partner,” he added.
“The depth of our defence relationship with the US is an essential part of our security, and today’s seamlessly executed operation shows just how well this works in practice.”
Healey told parliament later that “no UK personnel took part in the boarding” of the tanker, which he said was “falsely flagged” and under US sanctions.
That allowed it to be “lawfully intercepted and subjected to the law of the interdicting state”, he added, paying tribute to the “immense courage and professionalism” of US forces in “dangerous and deteriorating” conditions at sea.
Healey’s department said Britain had also provided “basing” support to the United States, after unconfirmed reports that some US aircraft have been gathering on Royal Air Force bases since the weekend.
