Key events in Iran tensions
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Iranian authorities seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, signalling an escalation in the strategic waterway that has become a flashpoint in tensions between Tehran and the West
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Revolutionary Guard naval bases

Maritime boundary

Deep water shipping lane
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Route of seized tanker Stena Impero on July 19

Bandar Abbas 

PERSIAN GULF

STRAIT OF HORMUZ

IRAN UAE

Abu Musa: Island occupied by Iran, claimed by UAE 

IRAN

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

GULF OF OMAN

OMAN

Abu  Dhabi  

40km 25 miles

OMAN

IRAN UAE

OMAN

IRAN 
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May 12: Four tankers from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Norway attacked in Gulf of Oman
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Jun 13: U.S. claims that Iranian limpet mines used to attack oil tankers in Gulf of Oman
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Jun 20: Iran shoots down U.S. surveillance drone
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Jun 21: President Trump calls off planned airstrike on Iran in retaliation for shooting down spy drone
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Jul 4: British Royal Marines help seize Iranian tanker, Grace 1, off coast of Gibraltar
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Jul 11: Iranian boats try to stop British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz before they are warned off by HMS Montrose
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Jul 18: U.S. warship destroys Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it ignores warnings to back off
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Jul 19: Iranian Revolutionary Guards seize two oil tankers in Strait of Hormuz: British-flagged, Swedish-owned, Stena Impero (above), taken to port of Bandar Abbas, Liberian-flagged Masdar is later released
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Sources: Associated Press, Marine Traffic, Reuters
Picture: Stena Bulk © GRAPHIC NEWS