An Israeli minister boasted Sunday that his country was the only one that 'has been killing Iranians', after tensions between Britain and Iran rose in the Gulf.

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi's comments to public radio were a reference to Israeli strikes in neighbouring Syria against Iranian and Hezbollah military targets.

But they came after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker on Friday, adding to tensions between Washington and Tehran linked to a 2015 nuclear deal.

Tzachi Hanegbi brushed off the possibility of conflict between Iran and Israel because his country 'means business' and 'is the only country that has been killing Iranians for two years' (Israeli jet, file image)

Hanegbi accused Iran, Israel's main enemy, of seeking to create 'chaos' and 'harm freedom of navigation.'

Asked if he feared that Israel would not receive the backing of the United States in the case of a conflict with Iran, Hanegbi suggested that Tehran would avoid such a scenario.

'Israel is the only country in the world that has been killing Iranians for two years,' he said.

'We strike the Iranians hundreds of times in Syria. Sometimes we acknowledge it and sometimes foreign reports reveal it.'

He added that the Iranians 'understand that Israel means business.'

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah military targets.

It has vowed to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily there.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in a similar vein last week with cadets at the national security college.

Tensions that have been ratcheting up between the US and Iran engulfed Britain on Friday as a UK-flagged oil tanker was seized by Tehran in the Strait of Hormuz (pictured)

HMS Montrose, a British frigate (file image), had been assigned to protect its tankers in the Strait but was an hour away when the Stena Impero was seized

'At the moment, the only army in the world to fight Iran is the Israeli army,' he said.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu warned that Israeli fighter jets 'can reach anywhere in the Middle East, including Iran'.

Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz for breaking 'international maritime rules' came some two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian tanker at the mouth of the Mediterranean on allegations of breaching UN sanctions against Syria.

Iranian official confirmed the crew of the British-registered tanker were 'safe and in good health' in the southern port of Bandar Abbas on Sunday.

The 23-strong crew is made up of 18 Indians, including the captain, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino.

Britain subsequently reported Iran to the United Nations, saying that the vessel had been intercepted in Omani territorial waters and that it 'constitutes illegal interference'.

However, ministers still faced down claims the UK had 'taken its eye off the ball' by allowing the tanker to go unguarded.

Britain only has the Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose in the region plus four mine hunters, while the US as its Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain - which includes one aircraft carrier, one missile cruiser, five destroyers, two amphibious vessels and two or three submarines

Almost one-third of the world's oil travels through the Strait of Hormuz, which is only 21 nautical miles at its narrowest point, making it a strategic choke-point for international trade.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt that the seizure was a 'tit for tat' response for the detention of the Grace 1 in Gibraltar.

Speaking inside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office today, Mr Hunt said: 'Nothing could be further from the truth.

'Grace 1 was detained legally in Gibraltarian waters because it was carrying oil, against EU sanctions, to Syria, and that's why the Gibraltarian authorities acted totally with respect to due process and totally within the law.

'Stena Impero was seized in Omani waters in clear contravention of international law, it was then forced to sail into Iran.

'This is totally and utterly unacceptable. It raises very serious questions about the security of British shipping, and indeed international shipping, in the Strait of Hormuz.

'Our priority continues to be to find a way to de-escalate the situation.'