The UK's maritime security center reported Thursday that armed men had seized a commercial vessel near the coast of the United Arab Emirates and the port of Fujairah, and had begun steering the ship toward Iran's territorial waters.
The identity or ownership of the vessel was not disclosed. Tehran chose to exploit the fact that US President Donald Trump was busy with his visit to China to carry out a provocation and enforce Tehran's maritime closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that, as far as Iran was concerned, the strait was open to shipping. "From our perspective, the Strait of Hormuz is open to all commercial vessels, but they must cooperate with our naval forces," Araghchi said.
Britain announced Tuesday that it would contribute autonomous mine-hunting equipment, Typhoon fighter jets and the warship HMS Dragon to a multinational defensive mission aimed at securing navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
British Defense Secretary John Healey told the media: "Together with our allies, this multinational mission will be defensive, independent and credible. The mission will receive 115 million pounds in funding from a special budget allocated for it."
The Royal Navy ship HMS Dragon is the fourth of the Type 45, or Daring-class, air-defense destroyers built for the Royal Navy. It was launched in November 2008 and entered service on April 20, 2012. It is equipped with cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles and an array of air-defense missiles designed to counter aircraft and ballistic missiles.
