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Both men were arrested on Thursday afternoon and questioned. Yet, neither of them have been charged so far, the Gibraltar Chronicle reported, citing a police spokesman. The officers also seized documents and electronic devices from the ship.

The men, both Indian nationals, are suspected of breaching EU sanctions against Syria, the paper said.

© Reuters/Stringer
The supertanker Grace 1 is being held by British authorities in the port of Gilbratar.

Meanwhile, the UK has raised the ship security codes for British-flagged vessels passing through Iranian waters to the highest - "critical" - level, several media outlets reported, citing sources.

The US said that the captured ship was transporting Iranian oil. Tehran confirmed it had links to the vessel but denied it was heading to Syria. Iran also branded the actions of the UK marines and the Gibraltar police as "piracy" and demanded the ship's immediate release.

While the Gibraltar authorities have never officially linked the seizure and the arrests with the actions of Iran, pointing instead at the sanctions the EU imposed against Syria, these developments still conspicuously come amid the ongoing row between the UK's allies in Washington and Tehran.

In mid-June, the US announced its plans to build a "global consensus" against Iran and later said it also wants to create a "coalition" to "ensure freedom of navigation both in the Straits of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb."

The fact that the UK - a major US ally - also tightened security of its own ships sailing near the Iranian territory while its forces in Gibraltar helped seize the vessel carrying Iranian oil might indicate that this move could potentially be linked to some other motives, going beyond the implementation of the EU sanctions against Damascus.

There were "no encounters" between the Iranian warships and foreign vessels at the time when the incident is alleged to have taken place, the IRGC's naval unit said in a statement on Thursday, cited by Fars News.

London said three Iranian patrol boats attempted to stop its oil tanker, British Heritage, as it was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz to the Persian Gulf. According to the British government statement, the Iranian vessels were forced to back away after receiving a warning from the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Montrose, which was escorting another tanker in the area.

Major General Mohsen Rezaee of the IRGC, who leads the influential Expediency Discernment Council, had suggested that Tehran should seize a British oil tanker if London refuses to return the ship captured off Gibraltar.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned London that its actions against the tanker would have "consequences in the future."

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Brent crude futures fell 39 cents to $66.61 a barrel. During the session, they hit their highest since May 30 at $67.65 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dipped 23 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $60.20 a barrel, after hitting their highest since May 23 at $60.94.

Ahead of what could be one of the first major storms of the Atlantic hurricane season, U.S. oil producers have cut nearly a third of their output in the Gulf of Mexico

Phillips 66 said it expected to complete the closing of its 253,600-barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance, Louisiana, refinery because of the storm threat.

Tropical Storm Barry formed with heavy rains expected across the north-central U.S. Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. [..]

Tensions in the Middle East also kept investors on edge. A day after Iran warned Britain would face "consequences" over the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker, three Iranian vessels tried to block passage of a British ship run by BP through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said. They withdrew after warnings from a British warship.