MNA – An Iranian lawmaker slammed the UK’ move to seize an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil in Gibraltar, saying the move proved the Europeans’ dishonesty in preserving the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), which was unilaterally scrapped by the US last year.







“Seizing an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar is maritime banditry and an illegal hostility towards Iran,” Mostafa Kavakebian, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security committee also wrote in a tweet on Friday.

He added that the move not only showed the UK government’s mere obedience to the United States, but it also proved, once again, the absurdity of the Europeans' claims on preserving the nuclear deal.

British Royal Marines seized an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil in Gibraltar on Thursday.

Acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on Thursday that Gibraltar detained the supertanker Grace 1 after a request by the United States to Britain.

Borrell was quoted by Reuters as saying that Spain was looking into the seizure of the ship and how it may affect Spanish sovereignty as it appears to have happened in Spanish waters.

Spain does not recognize the waters around Gibraltar as British.

Iran has described the UK Navy’s measure as being tantamount to maritime banditry, stressing that Britain has no right to impose its own unilateral sanctions or those of the European Union in an extraterritorial manner against the other countries.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced the Islamic Republic will be employing all its political and legal capacities to secure the release of the vessel and uphold its rights.