According To Iran News, Iran’s Ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad in his twitter account announced that Iran has sent an official letter to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to express deep concern over the recent US threat to Iranian fuel tankers.

“In an official letter to the #IMO, we expressed deep concern over reports that US is considering action against Iranian oil tankers at international sea and thus endangering safety of intl. navigation,” wrote  Baeidinejad.

“Iran responds to any threat and US bears responsibility for any consequences,” he added.

Tanker monitoring groups said at least five Iranian-flagged tankers are transporting fuel to Venezuela through the Atlantic Ocean despite US sanctions targeting both Tehran and Caracas.

The US Navy is said to have deployed its USS Detroit (LCS-7), USS Lassen (DDG-82), USS Preble (DDG-88), and USS Farragut (DDG-99) to the Caribbean along with its patrol aircraft Boeing P8-Poseidon for a possible encounter with the Iranian vessels.

In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday, Zarif described “the illegal, dangerous and provocative US threats [against the Iranian tankers]” as a form of piracy and a big threat to international peace and security. He then highlighted the responsibility of “the US administration with regard to the consequences of any illegal move, reiterating Iran’s right to adopt appropriate and necessary measures in the face of such threats.

Tehran also summoned Swiss ambassador whose country represents US interests in Tehran, to voice the country’s vehement protest at US provocations.

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Because of portraying a wrong image of Iran’s economic situation and encouraging the people to take out their assets from the country, the BBC Persian has turned into a partner in economic terrorism, the ambassador noted.

Tehran has repeatedly said that the United States’ sanctions against Iran are examples of economic terrorism.

President Hassan Rouhani said in June that the U.S. sanctions against Iran constitute examples of “crime against humanity and economic terrorism” because they have targeted ordinary people’s “lives and needs”.

“It should not be said that the U.S. has imposed sanctions on us because they are not sanctions. They are a crime against humanity. They could be called sanctions if they targeted some of our sensitive industries, but they are a crime against humanity and economic terrorism when they target the people’s lives and needs,” he said in a cabinet meeting.

Baeidinejad says Ofcom confirms receipt of Iran’s complaint

In another tweet on Wednesday, Baeidinejad said that the Office of Communications has confirmed receiving Iran’s complaint against the London-based anti-Iran TV channels.

He also noted that complaint against the BBC Persian is simultaneously being pursued through the BBC World Service.

Baeidinejad announced in November that the Iranian embassy in London had filed a complaint against the London-based anti-Iran TV channels for inciting violence in protests over the rise in the petrol price.

The ambassador said the TV channels, which also include the pro-Pahlavi Manoto TV, incite protestors to resort to violence and also broadcast false reports about rallies against an increase in the petrol price.

“Our country’s embassy in London has filed a complaint against Persian language anti-Iran TV channels of Iran International, BBC Persian and Manoto TV to Ofcom, because of the biased distortion of the recent incidents in Iran and also their invitation for the spread of violence,” Baeidinejad tweeted.

Protests were sparked in some cities in Iran against increasing the petrol price. In certain cases, the protests turned violent as some rioters clashed with police, using knives and guns.

Rioters, who were mainly hooligans, damaged public and private property and put banks and state buildings on fire.

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Hamid Baeidinejad told a group of UK mainstream media representatives on Thursday that Tehran’s move this week to inject gas into centrifuges at its Fordo plant was “adopted as a warning to the other sides and the international community that we are at a crisis.” Iran News quotes the report.

A member of Iran’s nuclear-negotiating team during the marathon talks that culminated in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Baeidinejad said Iran will continue to increase its nuclear activity every two months unless it receives the economic benefits it was promised when it signed the nuclear deal with world powers.

“We hope this warning would encourage all other parties to implement their commitments. … Now it depends on the other side — if they don’t take this warning seriously … we will be in a very difficult situation,” he warned.

The nuclear deal was reached in Vienna in July 2015 between Iran and the US, Britain, France, Germany Russia, and China. It lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran, which in turn changed some aspects of its nuclear program.

The US, however, left the accord last May and reinstated its unilateral sanctions against Iran. The European deal partners, meanwhile, have bowed to Washington’s pressure, failing to honor their contractual obligations to protect Iran’s economy in the face of America’s “toughest-ever” sanctions.

In his Thursday comments, the Iranian ambassador dismissed European arguments that it is difficult for them to circumvent the US sanctions.

“They have made commitments that are defined in very clear terms and they should be able to implement those commitments,” Baeidinejad said.

In reaction to Washington’s withdrawal from the deal and Europe’s inaction, Iran’s nuclear commitment cuts with the JCPOA happened in four phases, the latest of which was the resumption of enrichment at the Fordo nuclear facility near Tehran.

The fourth step of Iran’s nuclear commitment cuts, the injection of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas into centrifuges at Fordo, is believed to be the most important step so far, and a serious warning to other parties.

Enrichment capacity to go up

The spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said with the new centrifuges installed, Iran’s enrichment capacity is to reach the level it was before signing the agreement.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Behrouz Kamalvandi said, “With the new machines, which have been installed after taking the third step [to reduce Iran’s commitments under the deal], 2,600 SWU (separative work units) have been added to the country’s enrichment capacity.”

“A total of 15 new machines were installed after the third step, which increased our total nuclear production capacity to 2,600 SWU. Today, the work at Fordo has been finished and four more cascades will be added… to increase our total capacity by about 700 SWU. When the work is totally done, our overall [enrichment] capacity will stand at about 9,500 SWU, which is the level we held before signing the JCPOA,” Kamalvandi added.

“Of course, our pre-JCPOA [enrichment] capacity was 1,000 SWU more [than this]. But the difference is that we have many advanced machines at our disposal. The farther we go, the more we can harvest from these machines. Also, the knowledge that we receive will help us enhance the quality and functionality of the machines,” he said.

Following a meeting on Thursday to discuss Iran’s latest nuclear measures, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a statement via its spokesman, confirming that Iran has moved a cylinder of uranium hexafluoride gas to its Fordo site and connected it to centrifuges there.

The statement added that the UF6 gas cylinder was connected to two cascades of centrifuges for passivation, which it said was “a preparatory activity conducted prior to enrichment.”

A more detailed IAEA report sent to member states said the other four cascades of centrifuges installed at Fordo “remained unchanged.”

Mohammad Saeidi, a former AEOI deputy, said Tehran has even more important measures to take if other parties fail to fulfill their commitments.

“I believe that in case of other signatories’ failure to live up to their commitments, we have other very important measures which they will witness when the time for the next steps arrives,” he told Tabnak news website, stressing that the next steps would be more important than the fourth one.

“If the nuclear issue of Iran matters to Europeans, they must make their decision whether they want to preserve the accord or they really want to leave it and not fulfill their commitments,” he added.

Europe obligations

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed concern about Tehran’s announcements but said European powers should do their part.

“They are demanding that Iran fulfill all (obligations) without exception but are not giving anything in return,” he told reporters in Moscow.

The Kremlin has previously called sanctions against Iran “unprecedented and illegal.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Iran had made “grave” decisions and its resumption of uranium enrichment was a “profound change” from Tehran’s previous position.

The next few weeks will be dedicated to increasing pressure on Iran to return within the framework of the pact, the French president said during a trip to Beijing, adding that this must be “accompanied by an easing of some sanctions.”

“A return to normal can only take place if the United States and Iran agree to reopen a sort of trust agenda” and dialogue, Macron said, adding that he would discuss the issue with US President Donald Trump.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe has not yet taken a decision on how to respond to Iran’s decision to resume enriching uranium but every step Tehran takes makes things more difficult.

“We have not yet taken a final decision,” Merkel told a joint news conference in Berlin with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “But with each step, Iran takes the situation naturally gets more difficult.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday called for “serious steps” to be taken against Iran after the Islamic Republic resumed uranium enrichment at Fordo.

“Iran’s expansion of proliferation-sensitive activities raises concerns that Iran is positioning itself to have the option of a rapid nuclear breakout,” Pompeo said in a statement, urging serious steps to be taken to increase pressure on Tehran.

Security of nuclear facilities

Meanwhile, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA said Thursday he communicated Tehran’s concerns about the security of the country’s nuclear facilities to the agency, especially with regard to an IAEA inspector who was prevented from entering an Iranian nuclear site for carrying “suspicious” materials.

Kazem Gharibabadi said following an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA that he had offered a lengthy report on this issue to IAEA’s board, detailing everything that happened from the entry of the aforesaid inspector to Iran until the time she left the country.

“I emphasized that Iran has security concerns in this regard and does not intend to violate the immunity of IAEA’s inspectors, because we have not violated their rights and are aware of the stipulations of international law and our commitments.”

Iran’s IAEA envoy noted that detectors at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility had issued alarms with regard to this inspector, showing that she was carrying dangerous materials, saying, “Various measures were taken later and detectors were used at various locations, giving the same result, even when they were applied to her handbag.”

Noting that an investigation is underway on this issue in cooperation with the agency, Gharibabadi said, “We told members of the IAEA that in view of the past record of acts of sabotage against our nuclear facilities, we will under no circumstances compromise our national security and the security of our nuclear facilities, and we insist that the agency must offer us full cooperation to carry this investigation until its final stage.”

He emphasized that the agency has announced in writing that it is ready to cooperate with Iran in the investigation of the incident regarding its inspector and this issue has been welcomed by the Iranian side.

The AEOI on Wednesday announced that an IAEA inspector, who was prevented from entering the nuclear site has left the country.

The AEOI added that the female monitor left her mission unfinished and flew out of Iran after security staff at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility didn’t let her in.

“As it is protocol, all of the IAEA inspectors’ belongings are closely inspected and scanned before they enter any of the country’s nuclear facilities,” read the AEOI statement.

“Upon this lady inspector’s entry, the security control machines sounded the alarm and denied her entry,” it said, adding that Iran had reported the issue to the IAEA.

Iran also told the international agency in the report that the inspector’s previous admissions at various sites were all scrapped and as a result, she decided to abort her mission and go back to the Austrian capital of Vienna.

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Baeidinejad made the remarks hours after President Hassan Rouhani ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to start injecting uranium gas into advanced IR-6 centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility.

It was the fourth step by Iran to reduce its nuclear commitments in response to the abrogation of the multinational nuclear deal by the Trump administration and return of previous sanctions and inaction by the European signatories to the deal to offset sanctions.

“We’re doing this because we want to salvage the nuclear deal from total collapse,” Baeidinejad told Sky News. “Because the other sides have not been able to live up to their obligations, and Iran is resorting to certain actions to ensure” that the deal will stand.

Iran took the new measure as the Europeans missed the third 60-day deadline to fulfill their commitments to the deal signed in July 2015 and endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution 2231.

According to the Press TV, Baeidinejad said in a scenario in which Iran would uphold its nuclear commitments in the absence of similar conduct by the remaining signatories “is not a sustainable situation.”

“So, we’re reducing some of our commitments to give warnings that this situation cannot be continued and urge them (the other parties) to completely agree to implement their share of the commitments,” the ambassador noted, according to the Press TV.

Iran’s outright withdrawal from the accord or its renegotiation — as the U.S. has proposed — would lead to the deal’s “total collapse” and bring “another set of uncertainties,” said the diplomat who helped craft the JCPOA in negotiations with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France) Germany, and the European Union in a course of two years of intensive negotiations.

Ambassador Baeidinejad added “it depends on the other parties” whether Iran would restore its nuclear energy activities to the level that existed before the deal or resort to stronger retaliatory measures.

Under the JCPOA Iran agreed to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for the termination of economic and financial sanctions.

‘Iran restoring economic confidence’

The ambassador also strongly refuted claims that Iran’s economy was “collapsing” in the face of the U.S. sanctions.

“Our economy is doing much better comparing to the last year when the sanctions were imposed against Iran. We are regaining our full confidence in being able to recover our economy, and we are on the right track,” Baeidinejad said.

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The vessel’s coordinates at Marine Traffic website show that the huge tanker has left the Gibraltar territorial waters and is sailing toward an unclear destination in the Mediterranean.

Britain’s naval forces unlawfully seized the Grace 1 and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of oil in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4 under the pretext that the supertanker had been suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of the European Union’s unilateral sanctions against the Arab country.

Tehran rejected London’s claim that the tanker was heading to Syria, slamming the seizure as “maritime piracy.”

Gibraltar’s government announced on Thursday that it was releasing Grace 1 supertanker despite pressure from the US for the vessel’s continued detainment. The announcement came just before the US Department of Justice unveiled a warrant for the seizure of the Iran-operated ship.

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“I once again urge all parties to refrain from any actions that will escalate tensions further,” he added.

He noted, “A minor miscalculation could lead to a major confrontation. The last thing the world needs is a major confrontation in the [Persian] Gulf that will have devastating implications on global security and the global economy.”

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been on the rise in the past several months.

On 4 July, Royal Marines were involved in the seizure of Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar, claiming that ship was carrying oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. Iran called it an act of “piracy”.

Days later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps seized British-flagged Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz.

In an interview with Sky news on Tuesday, Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad said the release of the seized Iranian tanker could help secure the freedom of the British-flagged vessel detained by Tehran.

“Of course one issue can help resolution of another issue but these are two separate issues that need to be tackled separately,” he said.

He also said, “We’re very keen to see the UK is doing all the measures necessary to release as soon as possible the Grace 1.”

Baeidinejad said, “That ship collided with a fishing boat in the area…the fishing boat was damaged and there have been injuries.”

He also said Stena Impero had “entered the Strait of Hormuz from the exit lane, which is against the law”.

The ambassador added, “We have tension in the region because of the U.S. policies – that ship should have been very careful not to violate any laws.”

Baeidinejad denied Grace 1 was heading for Syria but repeatedly declined to identify the ship’s destination.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said Iran cannot reveal the destination of the tanker because of the U.S. sanctions.

In remarks on July 23, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will not let disturbance in shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran will make any effort to maintain security in this region, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, and will not allow any disturbance in shipping in this sensitive region,” he said during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris.

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Tehran later impounded a British-flagged ship, Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz for failing to stop after hitting an Iranian fishing boat, a violation of international maritime rules.

Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Iranian ambassador to London, Hamid Baeidinejad, said “Of course one issue can help resolution of another issue but these are two separate issues that need to be tackled separately.”

He also said, “We’re very keen to see the UK is doing all the measures necessary to release as soon as possible the Grace 1.”

Explaining the reason behind the seizure of Stena Impero, Baeidinejad said “That ship collided with a fishing boat in the area…the fishing boat was damaged and there have been injuries.”

He also said Stena Impero had “entered the Strait of Hormuz from the exit lane, which is against the law.”

“We have tension in the region because of the US policies – that ship should have been very careful not to violate any laws.”

Baeidinejad then stressed that contrary to the UK’s claims, Grace 1 was not heading for Syria.

“It’s very clear, we have announced it’s not going to a sanction entity…we’re not entitled to say what is the destination of the ship.”

The Iranian ambassador had said in a tweet on Monday that it would be “Impossible to advance a quid pro quo or barter exchange of detained UK and Iranian ships”, adding “UK has illegally detained the ship carrying Iranian oil while the British ship is detained for violating some key safety/security regulations in Hormuz Strait.”

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He was referring to the detention of a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, which is said to have been in breach of international regulations, and even a threat to the environment in the event of a collision with other vessels in the region with its transponder switched off.

His tweet was also in reaction to certain speculations that the UK was reportedly considering imposing sanctions on Iran in response to the tanker seizure.

“This is quite dangerous and unwise at a sensitive time in the region,” said Baeidinjad, adding, “Iran however is firm and ready for different scenarios.”

Meanwhile, during a phone conversation between Iranian and British foreign ministers on Saturday, Iran’s Zarif reiterated that unlike the UK’s unlawful seizure of the vessel carrying Iran’s oil, the Islamic Republic’s move was carried out upon the request of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran given the vessel’s violation of regulations.

Zarif noted that the case must be pursued through judicial and legal channels.

Zarif and Hunt also highlighted the importance of finding lawful solutions and avoiding heightened tensions.

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His tweet followed a phone conversation between Iranian and British foreign ministers over the issue, during which Zarif called on Britain to accelerate efforts meant to release the Iranian oil tanker, while Jeremy Hunt said, according to his tweet, that “UK would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria.”

The phone conversation took place ten days after British naval forces seized the Iran-operated Grace 1 supertanker off the coast of Gibraltar on alleged suspicion of carrying crude oil to Syria, which has been under EU sanctions since 2011.

Spain, which challenges the British ownership of Gibraltar, has, however, said the seizure was prompted by a US request to Britain and appeared to have taken place in Spanish waters.

The Islamic Republic has condemned the seizure as “piracy,” vowing to employ all its political and legal capacities to secure the release of the vessel.

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Iran’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Hamid Baeidinejad said, initially, the delayed parcels will be delivered to the customers so that the company could resume full cooperation with Iran just like in the past.

The UK-based company had confirmed suspending package delivery to Iran early April under the pretext of Washington’s unilateral sanctions against the country.

Following the decision, Iran discussed the matter with related British authorities and sent a letter of protest to the UK’s Foreign Office.

According to Baeidinejad, the company changed its decision to reject parcels to Iran after Tehran threatened to sue the company.

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