British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt sought to ease tensions with Iran on Saturday, saying a tanker held by Gibraltar would be released if Tehran guaranteed it was not heading to Syria.

He said he had a "constructive call" with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, who he said assured him that Tehran "is not seeking to escalate" tensions between the countries.

"I reassured him our concern was destination not origin of the oil on Grace One," a tanker seized off the coast of the tiny British territory of Gibraltar on July 4, Hunt tweeted.

An Iranian statement confirmed the conversation and said Hunt underlined Iran's "right to export oil". It added that Tehran hoped that an investigation in Gibraltar into the seized ship "would lead quickly to the release of the Iranian tanker".

US officials believe the tanker was destined for Syria to deliver oil, in violation of separate EU and US sanctions.

Hunt said Britain "would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria, following due process in Gib (Gibraltar) courts.

"Was told by FM Zarif that Iran wants to resolve issue and is not seeking to escalate."

Tehran had reacted angrily to the seizure, and Britain this week said Iranian military vessels had tried to "impede the passage" of a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

- Detained British-Iranian discussed -

Iran, in its statement relayed by state media, said Zarif had told Hunt that his country would continue to export its oil "in all circumstances" and that the Grace One's destination was a "legal" one, in "the eastern Mediterranean". He did not specify where.

Iran has repeatedly said it deems US and EU sanctions against it as "illegal".

Hunt said Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo was doing an "excellent job co-ordinating issue and shares UK perspective on the way forward".

Hunt also said he raised with Zarif the imprisonment of British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and Zarif "said he would continue to seek to find a solution".

Picardo said in a separate statement that he spoke with Hunt before and after the foreign secretary's conversation with Zarif and backed several of the points that were raised.

He said notably that he asked Hunt to tell Iran that Gibraltar would continue to enforce EU sanctions but it was also prepared to release the Grace One "if we were satisfied that we had received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria or to any entity sanctioned under the relevant EU regulations".

He added that he was "pleased to hear of Iran's constructive approach and their wish also to resolve this situation, which comes at a time of heightened international tensions".

Britain sends second warship to Gulf after Iran tanker standoff
London (AFP) July 13, 2019 - Britain said Friday it was sending a second warship to the Gulf and raising the alert level in the oil-rich region as tensions spike after Iranian gunboats threatened a UK supertanker.

The decision was disclosed as US President Donald Trump stepped up his war of words with the Islamic republic, which breached part of a nuclear accord already rejected by Washington.

"Iran better be careful," Trump told reporters outside the White House.

"They're treading on very dangerous territory. Iran, if you're listening, you better be careful."

British officials said the naval deployment was part of a pre-planned rotation and meant to ensure a continued British naval presence in one of the most important but volatile oil shipment routes in the world.

But a source said the switchover was brought forward by several days and should see two of Britain's most advanced warships jointly navigating the waters off Iran for a period that might last a number of weeks.

A government spokesman said the HMS Duncan was "deploying to the region to ensure we maintain a continuous maritime security presence while HMS Montrose comes off task for pre-planned maintenance and crew changeover".

On Wednesday, HMS Montrose warned off three fast Iranian gunboats that UK officials said were trying to "impede" the progress of a British supertanker through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

Iranian officials have denied the incident ever happened.

The British government decided at the start of the week to raise the alert level for ships travelling through Iranian waters to three on a three-point scale, indicating a "critical" threat.

HMS Duncan is an air defence destroyer that carries a set of heavy Harpoon anti-ship missiles and has a company and crew in excess of 280.

- Curbing Trump -

After weeks of escalating tensions, Trump last month authorised an air strike on Iran over its downing of a US spy drone but backed away at the last minute.

Alarmed that Trump's hawkish stance could lead to war, the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Friday voted to bar funding for military operations against Iran unless they are in self-defence or explicitly authorised by Congress.

"Frankly, what it will prevent is what this president promised to the American people not to do -- to get into another endless, costly war in the Middle East," said Representative Ro Khanna, the Democrat who led the measure.

But the Senate, controlled by Trump's Republican Party, defeated a similar proposal.

Khanna's amendment was part of a broader defence bill, meaning that the two chambers will need to negotiate on the language.

Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the amendment "reckless," saying that the military should not be held up by a potentially lengthy legislative process.

"This will tie our military's hands at a perilous time. We need Iran and its terrorist proxies to think twice before they attack Americans, our friends or our interests," he said.

- Gibraltar arrests -

The Strait of Hormuz episode occurred a week after UK Royal Marines helped the Gibraltar authorities detain an Iranian tanker that US officials believe was trying to deliver oil to Syria in violation of separate sets of EU and US sanctions.

Iran has bristled at the arrest and issued a series of increasingly ominous warnings to both the United States and Britain about its right to take unspecified actions in reprisal.

"If the enemy had made the smallest assessment they wouldn't have done this act," Iran's Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi said on Thursday.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called on Friday for "cool heads" to prevail as threats mount.

"We want to do everything we can to make sure that we don't have an unintended escalation which could be very dangerous for the world," Hunt said.

The authorities of Gibraltar -- a British overseas territory on Spain's southern tip -- said on Friday that the Iranian supertanker was carrying 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil.

They also insisted that they had asked British Naval Marines to help with the Iranian tanker's arrest without any outside political pressure.

The Gibraltar police on Thursday announced the arrest of the Iranian tanker's Indian captain and officer, and on Friday two more Indian crew members were detained.

All four were bailed without charge late Friday, Gibraltar police said.

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Britain says Iran tried to 'impede' UK tanker in Gulf
London (AFP) July 11, 2019
Britain said on Thursday that Iranian military vessels tried to "impede the passage" of a UK oil tanker but were warned off by a British warship in a dramatic escalation of tensions with Tehran in the Gulf. The incident in the narrow but busy Strait of Hormuz occurred on Wednesday after President Donald Trump ratched up his own administration's pressure even further by warning that sanctions against the Islamic Republic would be "increased substantially" soon. CNN initially reported that Iranian ... read more