Britain Will Reflag Kuwait Ships, U.S. Says
Britain will join Washington in re-registering Kuwaiti oil tankers threatened by Iran over the emirate’s support for Iraq in the seven-year Iran-Iraq War, the State Department said today.
“We understand that the United Kingdom will reflag its first Kuwaiti oil tanker,” spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said without elaborating on how the information was gained.
“We welcome actions such as this that contribute to the maintenance of free navigation and to the safety of commercial shipping in international waters in or near the gulf,” she told reporters.
Oakley did not specify how many Kuwaiti tankers London would reregister as British ships or when it would happen.
Britain had previously shown only lukewarm interest in a Kuwaiti request that some of its tankers fly the British flag.
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