“This is a quite obvious tit-for-tat and we have been warned in advance and for the British not to realise that is frankly is not paying attention,” Justin Urquhart-Stewart, founder of London’s Seven Investment Management, told New Europe on 20 July, adding that the British, through their allies, should have made sure there was proper military navy support for all shipping passing through that particularly sensitive area.
“Now most of the exports coming out of that area, of course, tend to head east rather than west so it has to have bigger impact on the likes of Japan and India and places like that. But overall this will put up the cost of security, cost of transport. We will no doubt see a spike in price if only because of the fear that this is adding to the rest on the concern of a broader issue in the Gulf,” Urquhart-Stewart said, adding, “What worried was the potential of American troops in Saudi Arabia in the next week or so. I think that’s again another way to ratchet up the level of nervousness that is going on. And, of course, add that to a very unpredictable American president,” he said while adding that he fears a American attack on facilities inside Iran or somewhere else in the world.
Full article available: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/iran-escalates-tensions-in-the-persian-gulf-after-seizing-uk-tanker/