THE STENA IMPERO: WHAT’S NEXT?

‘A tenuous link’ seems the right phrase: how else could you call a merchant ship British – a ship built in south-east China, its owner, Stena Bulk, a Swedish company, and its all non-British crew of Latvians, Indians and Filipinos recruited by a subsidiary of the aforementioned Stena Bulk.
True, the recruitment agency (Northern Marine), is based in Clydeside no doubt employing Scottish workers, but as far as research goes this seems to be the only factor contributing to the lineage of this ‘British’ tanker.Just how this vessel can fly the red ensign and claim UK naval protection eludied the UK tabloids as headlines from the Daily Express, for example, screeched:
‘Iran seizes British oil tanker – how will the UK respond?’ (1)

The tabloid’s indignation was probably fuelled by the speedy ambush of the ship by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commandos (IRGC) who didn’t mess about, descending from helicopters as navigation was distracted by fast assault craft circling the ship.London did respond by sending in the frigate HMS Montrose as well as the destroyer HMS Duncan. However both vessels were too late to intervene and Stena Bulk’s CEO, Erik Hanell, urged ‘a swift resolution.’
Fortunately, the Impero and its crew have now been released in the latest game of playing politics with the West – a decision by Iran greatly welcomed and no doubt, by the crew members’ families.

Who guards the Gulf? Iran or the US?It’s all about power relations. Officially the US has embargoed Iranian oil imports whilst Its oil exports to other countries have increased. (2)So perhaps with good reason, Tehran takes the stance that the Gulf’s freedom of navigation is controlled by their navy and not the US Fifth Fleet.

A history of friction……….Those fortunate to be too young to remember the 1979 overthrow of the Shah of Iran will probably find a good start is to read ‘Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic.’ (3)The author, Michael Axworthy writes what many know, that the monarchy of Iran was deposed and replaced by a revolutionary Islamic Republic; for sure the monarchy was corrupt and undemocratic but in the light of reports since it’s plus ca change as the French say: in other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same – and in Iran there are still the old strong-arm tactics from central government towards citizens and foreigners alike. Just like the Shah’s regime.

 But back in the eighties………..Iran was importing food and our ship the MV Teeside Clipper was anchored in Banda Abbas, the same port as Stena Impero‘s internment.Yet another British ship, but this time the Iranians were far too preoccupied to secure collection of the Australian frozen meat carcasses for their troops bitterly fighting the Iraqis in yet another Gulf war.Lacking quayside freezer facilities, instead the ship was being used as a refrigerated warehouse as trucks drove over fromTehran and Shiraz so it was quite a lengthy discharge.

Already informed from Banda’s port authorities that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) would be overseeing the daily routine, they arrived and although fully-armed were not as menacing as we had expected. Most were in their late-teens and early-twenties and appeared to be lacking the Islamic fervour we’d been told to watch out for; indeed, for a can or two of Pepsi-Cola they were glad to leave us alone and the only worrying thing was a habit of leaving their loaded service pistols on the mess room table.

Two of these IRGC had been studying in the UK prior to the army – one a business studies major at Portsmouth Polytechnic ( now a Uni) and the other a first-year dental student in London – both spoke excellent English and certainly no chants of ‘death to America’ from either of them.
Which would have been ironic anyway. The IRGC uses land tactics borrowed from the US Rangers and its uniforms bear a strong resemblance to some of America’s finest.

Enter the bad guys………..More like everyone’s stereotypes of IRGC, these wore bottle-green uniforms adorned with various inscriptions in Farsi so it was hard for us to distinguish just who was the boss.They were all ideologically-driven, armed with AK47’s – not just service pistols – and soon arrogantly made themselves at home by lounging around the crew mess and practicing their English by goading us that England was s**t (I doubt if any of these guys had ever visited).Our football team was equally s**t, they said.But as an aside it was hard to disagree there!

Banda Abbas even then was a  large port – about 300,000 population – and with plenty of ships there was lots for the IRGC to snoop upon.Cabin searches were frequent and thorough as the IRGC would look for anything which would incur the owner a fine or, worse still, an interrogation.
We had already been warned about alcohol and porn (strictly taboo) as also any surplus cigarettes beyond the declared 200, and by this time the authorities had ordered that any crew clothing with a ‘Marks and Spencer’ label was prohibited – M&S of course, being a company with Israeli connections.So it was advised that any such labels should be dealt with by a pair of scissors – just in case.

Around eight pm there would be a ‘bedtime check’ upon ships by other IRGC units in jeeps who ostensibly wanted to search for alcohol or anything else forbidden.One night we had our crew movie night rudely interrupted by them who proclaimed we mustn’t watch the James Bond film ‘For Your Eyes Only’ anymore as one particular scene in which Carole Bouquet showed her cleavage was deemed ‘very insulting to Islam.’
In fact the Guard abruptly switched the projector off resulting in no sound and a blank screen – anyone gonna argue with an AK47?

Back to the Stena Impero………….One hopes the Impero crew were detained in a fair and civilised manner.We certainly couldn’t complain too much about our port stay apart from (quote) ‘English’ society being mocked and slandered much to the delight of the crew from Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland.
For sure, the IRGC were flexing their muscles and have been since, but during the 1980’s it shouldn’t be forgotten that Iran attacked 190 ships from 31 nations, killing at least 63 sailors. (4)And since that time again, human rights abuses happen all over the country; curtailment of freedom of expression and association, plus imprisonment of dissidents and foreigners alike ( the ongoing detention of   Nazanin Zaghevi- Radcliffe, for example are outrages challenging Western values.

Maybe the Impero incident was a way of diverting domestic attention from Iran’s deepening crisis caused by sanctions of which always the hit poorer people most – the Iranian rial, for example, has lost 40 % value since sanctions bit hard.Or maybe the Impero was Iran’s piece de resistance against the run-up to Trump’s campaign trail in next year’s election.Who knows? – and as the Americans say: you go figure.

1) Daily Express, p1, 22/07/2019
2) https://www.reuters.com>article Hit by Sanctions 30/07/2019
3) Axworthy, M. (2005) Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic, Penguin 
4) Christ. D. washingtoninstitute.orgGulf of Conflict: A History of US- Iranian Confrontation at Sea June 09