“The enemy must continue to retreat as long as Iran’s legitimate demands are not recognized,” Major General Hossein Salami said in the southwestern city of Ahvaz on Thursday.
The same enemy that once claimed it would not let the export of “a single drop of Iranian oil” has now backed off in the wake of a failure, the top commander noted.
He also warned the foreign enemies against a harsh response to the attempts to taint Iran’s dignity, warning the “old hyena of colonialism” -the UK- that if it dares to defy the Iranian nation, the Islamic Republic’s naval forces will “take its ship out of four American and British warships” and bring it to the coast.
The IRGC captured British oil tanker “Stena Impero” at the Strait of Hormuz on July 19 for violating the international maritime law, saying even a Royal Navy’s frigate escorting the tanker failed to prevent the Iranian commandos from carrying the mission.
A letter to the UN Security Council said the UK oil tanker has had a crash with an Iranian fishing vessel at the Strait of Hormuz on July 19 and caused damages to the Iranian boat in a way that a number of its crew and fishermen are in a critical condition in hospital.
The British oil tanker ignored warnings from Iran after the accident, switched off its navigation systems, made a dangerous maneuver, and began to sail into the wrong way to flee the area before it was captured by the Iranian naval forces.
The IRGC says an escorting frigate from the UK Royal Navy stepped in as two helicopters scrambled to prevent the IRGC Navy’s commandos from carrying their mission.
Informed sources have said the UK oil tanker was also polluting the Persian Gulf water heavily by dumping crude oil residue.
