U.K. Will Facilitate Iran Tanker Release With Guarantees

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. will facilitate the release of the tanker if it received "guarantees that it would not be going to Syria," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a tweet Saturday, after a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, agrees that it’s important to deescalate "the current situation as quickly as possible, while noting the importance of Gibraltar enforcing EU sanctions against Syria through its legal processes," Hunt said in an emailed statement later Saturday.

The incident has heightened frictions just as European nations scramble to salvage a landmark nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic.

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