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- The UK will join a US-led taskforce to protect merchant ships travelling in the Gulf.
- This move comes amid growing tensions between the two countries and Iran over the shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.
- This decision was taken after Iran had seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.UK has accused Iran for an act of state piracy.
- However,Iranian officials had said that the oil tanker was seized in response to Britain’s role in seizing an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar.
- The tensions in the gulf region had started after US has re-imposed and latterly tightened its own sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from a 2015 Iran nuclear deal to limit Iran’s nuclear activities.
- However,the UK has said that it’s decision to join the US-led mission will not change its commitment to the Iran nuclear deal and that the UK government was working to de-escalate the situation in the Gulf.
- The Strait of Hormuz is a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.It has been at the heart of regional tensions for decades.
