FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Speaking to LBC, the Rear-Admiral claimed former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's "muddled thinking" to assume the European Union would support his plan without consulting the other leaders first, cost the UK the help of Iran's most feared enemy, the US. The former Royal Navy official blamed "all sorts of factions going forward and backwards" in Downing Street for the "appalling" response.

He said: “I don’t think the Government did a good job at all. “I think, if one of my students at the Maritime Warfare Center come up with the plan I would have sacked them. “It was absolutely appalling, it put no pressure on the Iranians at all. “It didn’t bring in the Americans, who the Iranians really fear. “And the European Union seems to have gone AWOL. So not a great plan.” READ MORE: Iran crisis: Germany has ‘no concrete plans’ to protect Euro tankers

Iran crisis: Rear-Admiral Chris Parry claims UK response to Iran standoff was 'appalling'

Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt

If one of my students at the Maritime Warfare Center come up with the plan I would have sacked them Chris Parry

On Jeremy Hunt, he added: “I think it was muddled thinking. You know what it’s like in Downing Street, there’s all sorts of factions going backwards and forwards. “And now our fight is with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. They’re the ones making all the troubles in the Gulf at the moment. “I don’t think the Iranian Government itself is really in control.” The Rear-Admiral appeared confident the new Government under Boris Johnson's leadership would get things back under control and would attract the support of its European and American allies.

The Stena Impero was seized and detained between July 19 and July 21

Iran: The Stena Impero being seized

Trending