Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the Iranian tanker detained by Royal Marines near Gibraltar could be released, if the UK is guaranteed the oil isn’t bound for Syria.
The tanker Grace 1 was seized earlier this month because it was suspected of breaking EU sanctions.
Iran claimed the seizure was “piracy”, and Iranian ships later tried to impede a British tanker, the UK claimed.
But Mr Hunt said he had a “constructive call” with Iran’s foreign minister.
“I reassured him our concern was destination, not origin of the oil,” he wrote on Twitter, “and that UK would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria.”
He added that the foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, wants to resolve the issue and was “not seeking to escalate”.
*story by BBC News