(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. said it's still building an international coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran indicated it could step up its operations against tankers passing through the vital shipping lane.
“What we've been doing is working to ensure that there is a coalition in place, which can ensure safe passage through what is a very important strait,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, told reporters on Monday.
Read More: Why the Straight of Hormuz is World's Oil Flashpoint
The showdown between Iran and Western powers in the Persian Gulf is at risk of escalating after Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said it would act more vigorously to protect its interests in the region.
The crisis is part of a broader confrontation between Iran and U.S. President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the 2015 international nuclear deal aimed at cutting off Iran's route to attaining atomic weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. The U.S. has since imposed more trade restrictions on Iran and sought to cut off its oil sales.
The U.K. has called for a European-led coalition to counter the threat to shipping, with the U.S. also involved. But some European nations have ruled out taking part in an alliance that includes the U.S., which they blame for triggering the standoff in the region.
In comments to reporters in Tehran, Zarif singled out the British government for criticism, after U.K. forces seized an Iranian tanker on July 4 near Gibraltar accusing it of violating international sanctions on Syria. Iran then grabbed a British tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz two weeks later and continues to hold it. It has also detained two smaller vessels it accuses of smuggling fuel.
The U.K. showed it was “complicit in U.S. economic terrorism,” Zarif said.
The Islamic Republic has also previously been accused of a series of attacks on tankers in the strait, through which about a third of the world's seaborne oil passes.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Mark Williams
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