Foreign secretary tells of ‘great risk’ of drift to war against Iran

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned of the “great risk” of a drift to war with Iran following the attacks last week in the Gulf on two oil tankers.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has joined Britain and the United States in blaming the Iranians for the attacks, a claim which Tehran has strongly denied.

The incidents caused oil prices to soar amid heightened fears of a conflict in the region causing major disruption to world supplies.

Mr Hunt told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show that Britain was urging all sides in the dispute to “de-escalate” in order to avoid a slide into armed conflict.

“Having spoke to President Trump, I am absolutely clear that for America they want this to end in negotiations,” he said.

Tensions in the region have been rising since the Trump administration pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed punishing economic sanctions on Tehran.

The Americans have accused Iran of using limpet mines to target the tankers, pointing to video footage said to show Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops removing an unexploded mine from one of the vessels.

Britain’s ambassador to Tehran Rob Macaire, meanwhile, denied Iranian media reports that he had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in protest at the UK’s “unacceptable anti-Iran stances”. Mr Macaire said he had sought the meeting himself.

In his interview, Mr Hunt defended the Foreign Office’s assertion that Iran was “almost certain” to be to blame for the attacks on the tankers.

“We have done our own intelligence assessment,” he said.