Britain on Monday joined the United States in a maritime security mission in the Gulf to protect merchant vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel.

Britain's links to the Bahraini dictatorship are back in the spotlight after a dramatic weekend in which three prisoners were executed, a protester died in suspicious circumstances and a dissident occupied the roof of the country's embassy in London, the Morning Star newspaper reported.

Bahrain hosted a conference on Gulf maritime security on Wednesday, after multiple attacks on shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz sent tensions soaring between Iran and the US.

The Minister of State for Human Rights Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon expressed deep concern and regret that these executions were carried out in Bahrain.

Bahrain executed on Saturday three men convicted in two separate cases, one involving the killing of a police officer and the other the killing of a mosque imam, the public prosecutor said in a statement.

Bahraini dissident Mousa Abed Ali climbed onto the Bahraini embassy rooftop in London in protest against the imminent execution of Ahmad Al-Malali and Ali Al-Arab.

Gibraltar was granted the power on Friday to detain Iran's Grace 1 oil tanker for another month, keeping the vessel at the center of a big-power quarrel between Iran and the United States and its allies.

Britain does not intend to escort every British-flagged merchant vessel through the Strait of Hormuz, a security source said on Thursday, after a Royal Navy warship had to stop three Iranian vessels from blocking the passage of a BP-operated tanker.

British finance minister Philip Hammond will visit Saudi Arabia on Saturday to promote bilateral business ties, accompanied by London Stock Exchange chief David Schwimmer as Saudi oil giant Aramco revisits a possible listing.

British Royal Marines seized a giant Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar on Thursday for trying to take oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions, a dramatic step that drew Tehran's fury and could escalate its confrontation with the West.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday to discuss the need for de-escalation in the Gulf after tensions rose because of a U.S.-Iran dispute over the country's nuclear deal, May's spokeswoman said.

Oman and Britain signed on Thursday (February 21, 2019) a joint defense agreement which was previously announced during Exercise Saif Sareea 3 in October.

Britain is leading a group of European Union states who are trying to block an EU plan to include Saudi Arabia and 22 other jurisdictions on a blacklist of countries that pose money-laundering and terrorism financing threats, sources said.

A member of the British House of Lords called on the UK Ambassador to Thailand to intervene and assist the Australian authorities in ensuring the safe return of Bahraini refugee Hakeem Al-Araibi to Australia.

The two top Western allies, Britain and America, announced their support for comprehensive reconciliation in Bahrain, yet they are working against what they claim to support when they encouraged the legislative elections that took place last weekend, disregarding the statements made by international organizations describing the election environment as “oppressive”.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) issued a new report entitled "Bahrain: Concerns of Further Death Penalties amid Disregard of Prisoners’ Torture Allegations”.

The United Arab Emirates on Monday pardoned and released a British academic jailed for life on spying charges, granting a request for clemency after showing a video of him purportedly confessing to membership of the UK’s MI6 intelligence service.

The United Arab Emirates signaled on Friday a British academic it jailed for life on spying charges could be freed after his family appealed for clemency in a case that has strained ties between the longstanding allies.

The upcoming parliamentary elections in Bahrain, scheduled for November 24, 2018, are occurring in a repressive political environment that is not conducive to free elections, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday backed a U.S. call for a cessation of hostilities in the Yemen war, a conflict that has killed at least 10,000 people and brought on the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.