The BBC has been slammed for interviewing the son of a British major general as an ‘independent’ source on the UK-Iran tanker crisis, bringing into question the impartiality of the state broadcaster.

Mark Curtis, historian and columnist at the Middle East Eye, has taken to social media to hit out at the BBC’s choice of ‘neutral’ expert, to highlight the apparent conflict of interests.

Curtis tweeted: “BBC doing a great job on Iran. Here’s the son of a serving UK Major General (UK’s Standing Force Commander) being interviewed as an independent source on TV…”

BBC doing a great job on Iran. Here’s the son of a serving UK Major General (UK's Standing Force Commander) being interviewed as an independent source on TV while Newsnight’s Diplomatic Editor advises on military strategy. And we’re paying for it. This has to stop. pic.twitter.com/xdJcpayfkf — Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) July 22, 2019

The interviewee, Henry Jones, is a 19-year-old journalist for the UK Defence Journal, and the son of the Major General Rupert Jones. The major tweeted about how proud he was watching his son giving analysis to the BBC on the Iran situation.

Curtis also questioned the appropriateness of Mark Urban, BBC Newsnight’s diplomatic editor, tweeting advice on military strategy with a whole range of suggestions to deal with the Iran ‘threat.’

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Urban urged the UK to urgently borrow US swift boats, claiming that Britain needs to get tooled up with “fast attack craft; Apache helicopters; support helicopters; + Reaper drones,” using military bases in Oman.

In early July, the UK captured an oil tanker carrying Iranian crude through the Strait of Gibraltar, saying it was trying to violate EU sanctions by delivering its cargo to a Syrian port. On Friday, Tehran detained a British-flagged tanker off its coast in what is widely perceived as an act of retaliation.

Iran has accused the UK of doing the US’ bidding, as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on the Islamic Republic with deployment of military assets and threats of sanctions against buyers of its oil.

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