Britain and the United States will regret detaining an Iranian oil tanker, a deputy commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards warned on Thursday, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Last week, British Royal Marines boarded an Iranian tanker, the Grace 1, off Gibraltar and seized it on suspicion that it was breaking EU sanctions by taking oil to Syria.
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"Now an action that does not need ability but some stupidity has been carried out by them," Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, a deputy Guards commander, said, according to Tasnim.
"The American government … and also England … should not have taken action if they had made the smallest calculation," he said.
"We had rented this ship and we carried the cargo. Their action was very foolish and they will certainly regret it. Our reciprocal action will be announced."
On Wednesday, five boats believed to belong to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps approached a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday and asked it to stop in Iranian waters close by, but withdrew after a British warship warned them, US officials said.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC rejected the US claim, according to Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency.
Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Britain would face "consequences" over the seizure of the Iranian tanker.
