frank gardner, bbc news.airah in the united arab emirates, in the gulf of oman. what more do we know about how the crew of the stena impera are getting on? that is right, remember, it was from the waters here that that ship lifted its anchor on friday for what should have been a routine voyage west. instead, it found itself forced in the other direction, across the strait of hormuz, where it is now off the iranian coast, with as you heard the iranian flag flying above it. the 23 crew members are mostly indian nationals, and for theirfamilies, this are mostly indian nationals, and for their families, this has are mostly indian nationals, and for theirfamilies, this has of course been a and extremely concerning time. the company sterner held a meeting with five of the families in mumbai yesterday to update them of what they understand of the condition of the crew, though they have very little information. the families say they feel satisfied and reassured by what the company is doing, and by the diplomatic atte

frank gardner speaking to me earlier. some news in the last few minutes regarding british airways.cancelled all its flights to cairo in egypt for seven days. they say it is because of security concerns. passengers about to board a flight to the egyptian capital at heathrow were reportedly handed a letter saying the decision had been taken "as a precaution to allow for further assessment of security arrangements". the statement as we have reads as such. we constantly review our security arrangements in all our airports around the world and have suspended flights to cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment. that is the latest statement coming from british airways regarding the cancellation of flights to cairo. for those of you in the sporting world you will know a large football tournament has very recently ended in cairo. labour has set out plans to stop private companies providing council services in england. shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell says if the party wins the next election, outsourcing of work such as rubbish collections, would end within five ye

london for the legal battle with sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum. 0ur security correspondent frank gardneremale member of the family to apparently try to run away. she is the third member of the maktoum royal court, female member, as far as we know, to have allegedly tried to flee that royal court. so last year, latifa, who is a daughter of sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum, fled first oman, and then by sea, and was recaptured just off the coast of india and brought back to dubai. now, the official dubai version is that she's a very troubled young lady, she's now in the bosom of her family and being looked after. critics say she's being force—fed medication, et cetera. there's no evidence, but that's what they're saying. princess haya has allegedly discovered the truth about that, which is one of the reasons causing her to flee. also making news today: president trump has warned china that it could end up with a bad trade deal, or none at all, if he wins re—election next year without an agreement already in place. talks between chinese and us negotiators are taking place in shanghai as

frank gardner, bbc news. and frank's with me in the studio. of uk input without allies helping us at the moment is a worry. it is. we do know roughly what they discussed at the cobra meeting because they were looking at ways to protect maritime shipping gone through the strait of hotness but without appearing to be part of some great big us the challenge with britain is that it clearly has got a problem, not enough chips to be able to escort every single british flagged tanker going through that very important strategic checkpoint. it has to be pa rt strategic checkpoint. it has to be part of a multinational force. the americans have enough ships to do it but a briton is not on the same page as the americans would come to what policy on how to deal with iran. iran has waited patiently for years since the us put out of the nuclear deal, it has waited for europe to come up with something satisfactory to get around those very tough sanctions. it has been a case of basically too little too late. britain is trying along with european partners to sa

frank gardner explains where all of this leaves the uk government.or the british government is this. it clearly needs to protect its shipping in the gulf. you can see here how easily this tanker was diverted towards the iranian coast. but the royal navy doesn't have enough ships to do the job alone, so it's got to be part of a multinational force, but britain doesn't want to be seen to be tied too closely to the very hawkish us policy towards iran. downing street says there was no us offer to escort all uk ships in the region. here's the us secretary of state mike pompeo on that. the responsibility in the first instance falls to the united kingdom to take care of their ships. tom bateman is in the united arab emirates port of fujairah. he gave us this latest update. there have been clear messages coming from the iranians over the last 2a hours, not only did they hoist their national flag over the decks of our british flagged vessel but they they then played the call to prayer over then played the call to prayer over the ship's speakers. we have had p

here's the bbc‘s security correspondent frank gardner.they said as being led astray and she is safe them. human rights activists say she is being detained against her will. it depends on who you want to believe. there's a court case coming up at the end ofjuly karen britton in the division which is going to see very high—profile, high—paying lawyers battling it out. we do not yet know what the court case is going to be about, you can take a guess. and for britain, this is potentially very damaging and throughout the eu, because this is not the story that they want in the press and they want good relationships with the uae and this is something they've ever would not happen. they rather the stairs of the public eye and say something it remains between two people. the princess was left a couple months ago, he was over here without her. these are big high—profile figures, very involved in the horse racing world. it is not going to go away immediately. it's bigger than snapchat, twitter and linked in. but, if you're not a teenager, you may ha

being told we have lost that line, that is a shame, we will try to get it back, but we can talk to frank gardnere said there? this is one of theresa may's final meetings, so i don't think she will come up with anything particularly controversial. they will sum the situation, look at the latest intelligence which is coming from british allies as well as british sources, and they will try to decide how they navigate this difficult dilemma of protecting maritime shipping, owing to the strait of hormuz, vital for the world economy, but without being seen to be tied too closely to washington's policy on iran. because there are two issues, carrie — one is protecting shipping in the gulf, and that is the immediate incident danger, you know, tank is being seized like this, and clearly the royal navy does not have enough surface ships to do the job on its own, so it has to do it with others. at the bigger issue is the nuclear deal which has fallen apart, washington pulled out over a year ago, iran waited for a year and is now starting to incrementally break that deal, or clauses in it, and britain is not

we can speak now to our security correspondent frank gardner. things really have escalated?ave. this is the most serious incident taking place in the gulf, coming on the back of a number of other incidents, like the near ca ptu re of other incidents, like the near capture of another british flagged tanker only a few days ago. the seriousness can be judged tanker only a few days ago. the seriousness can bejudged by the fa ct we seriousness can bejudged by the fact we have just had a ministerial level cobra cabinet office briefing, the emergency session. the british government is in a bit of a bind because they do not have a great deal of options left to them. what they would like to do is have a firm international response, preferably done through allies and preferably with the un. but this is a volatile situation. it is quite clear the iranians are carrying out what is tit for tat. they say this is direct retaliation for the impounding of their vessel in gibraltar, but that is not a straightforward case. that was impounded under eu syria sanctions regulations. the gibraltar

let‘s get more on this now from our security correspondent frank gardner, who‘s in our london newsroomt has nothing to do with snakes, they have got to try and find a way through this without escalating it. there is a reluctance, both in london and in european capitals, to be seen to be tying a military force too closely to the american flag. the americans have offered help, they are trying to put together a maritime false, but britain doesn‘t want to be seen to be doing america‘sjob but britain doesn‘t want to be seen to be doing america‘s job for it on iran, because there are some very hawkish voices in washington that are basically, whether they will admit it or not, are pushing for regime change in tehran. so you have given us a sense that it is very tricky diplomacy. in the meantime, there is this tanker, they have got hold of it, there are people on board, what happens to them?” hold of it, there are people on board, what happens to them? i think they will be kept safe. they have been taken to a report called banda abbas, i have been there three times, a huge strategic port on th

0ur security correspondent frank gardner is here. how deep is this crisis at the moment?who was responsible. it comes on the back of the shooting down of an unmanned drone, a us drone, a surveillance drone. iran said it shut it down, over its own territory. it comes on the back of iran territory. it comes on the back of ira n slowly territory. it comes on the back of iran slowly withdrawing, from the nuclear treaty, it may deny that is what it is doing but in practice, it is no longer complying with that because the united states administration of donald trump withdrew unilaterally from it. this is the heart of the problem, isn't it, with america pulling out, that leaves britain, france, germany totally exposed. very exposed, trying desperately to keep iran in the deal but they do not have a great deal to offer it and the iranian economy is tanking, inflation is up, goods are not going in, exports are down to a fraction of what they were. iran is saying, we signed this deal in good faith. what is in it for us to stay in it? the idea was, sanctions would be lifted, in retu

our security correspondent frank gardner is here. (00v) do you know what is going on?ause why would iran sees a tanker if it was operating on its own waters and it was something possibly under iranian control? it is not clear whether this is the same tanker that disappeared. all ships going through... any ship navigating international waters needs and automatic information system, a transponder. the ship was my captain can turn it off if they want, but the transponder shows where they are at any one time. it allows them to be tracked. if you're up to no good, you turn off as a matter of course, so the transponder got turned off for whatever reason on the rear end hasn't been heard of since sunday. it's not clear if this is the same tanker but let's look at the bigger context here. iran says they have seized this vessel because it was smuggling fuel oil. that is a little bit like accusing somebody of gambling ina bit like accusing somebody of gambling in a casino because smuggling is as old as... i was going to say all is that my old as the hills but there are no hills

frank gardner, our security correspondent told us a bit more about what might be happening at that meetingtain's allies and decide how they navigate through this difficult dilemma of protecting maritime shipping going through the strait of hormuz which is vital for the world economy but without being seen to be tied to closely to iranwashington's policy on iran. thanks has been seized like this and clearly the royal navy doesn't have enough surface ships to do the job on its own so surface ships to do the job on its own so it has to do with others. but the bigger issue is the nuclear deal thatis the bigger issue is the nuclear deal that is falling apart because washington pulled out of it a year ago. iran waited for a year and is now starting to incrementally break their deal or clauses in britain is not on the same page as america on that one. so britain doesn't want to be seen to be sailing under a us flag and been tied intojohn bolton, the very hawkish national security advisor in washington and his policy on iran. it's very hard though isn't it because the nuclear deal is enmeshed in a

here's our security correspondent frank gardner, who was speaking to me a little earlier.intrusive inspections and curb its nuclear activities, trying to delay it ever getting to the point where it could produce a bomb and in return sanctions would be lifted. well, that stopped a year ago because america pulled out of the deal and europe has tried very hard to find a way to still keep the dealer alive but iran are saying, look, what is in it for us? you know, we signed this in good faith, we curbed our nuclear activities and what have we got? nothing, the sanctions are still in place. that is their view. no, the reason why america is being really tough on iran is, that outside the nuclear deal, iran has been doing things that are really upsetting the region. it has accelerated its ballistic missile development, it has funded and supported proxy militias around the region, in syria, in yemen, in iraq and lebanon. and that, according to the people in the region, has is destabilised it. where we are now is at a dangerous point because the european nations are going to feel ob