Owners will be powerless to release their UK-flagged vessels if they are seized in retaliatory action by Iran, a UK lawyer has warned.
A British warship deterred a potential detention of BP's 158,000-dwt suezmax British Heritage (built 2017) in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, in response to the UK's seizure of a Ukrainian VLCC, the 301,000-dwt Grace 1 (built 1997) in Gibraltar in a sanctions case.
Stephen Askins, a partner at London law firm Tatham & Co, said similar incidents had occurred on numerous occasions off Yemen where Saudi Arabian coalition forces have interdicted ships and escorted them at gunpoint to Jeddah.
He is involved in a case where the vessel and cargo were confiscated for "contrived" customs offences and two years on he is still no closer to getting the ship out, he told TradeWinds.
The crew were repatriated after about six months in that case.
"If the vessel is seized then of course that would be unlawful, particularly if it took place in international waters," Askins said.
"Even in territorial waters such action would have to be justified under international law (ie rules of innocent passage) or Iranian law."
Judicial "facade"
If its fate was tied to that of Grace 1, there would be a "facade" of a judicial process, he added.
"Really the UK and therefore the shipowner would be powerless. Iran are not signatories of UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] and the only legal forum is [UN-backed tribunal] ITLOS, but Iran would either not participate or would ignore any ruling in any event."
Askins said the owner would have to make some kind of application to the Iranian courts.
"But I don’t think we can assume (anymore than we can in Saudi Arabia) that the judiciary and courts are truly independent of the leaders.
"It would become very political and the vessel would effectively be held hostage pending Gibraltar’s (or the US') decision to seek forfeiture of the vessel. I think Iran have made it clear that they are determined to gain some kind of leverage to deal with the Grace 1 and to deter anyone taking similar action against Iranian assets."
