Iran says its gunboats chased down Royal Navy’s HMS Duncan – but experts say claim is false

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shared a video in which they claimed to be pursuing a Royal Navy destroyer, only for experts to reveal it was most likely a UAE vessel. 

The Islamic Republic’s armed forces shared a video in which they said they were pursuing the HMS Duncan.

Footage showed gunboats giving chase to a warship that can be seen sailing in the distance.

The Iranian military released footage (right) claiming that it was in hot pursuit of the HMS Duncan (left) which now appears to be incorrect 

But it is thought they were actually racing after a United Arab Emirates ship they mistook for a British vessel. 

Conflict News Worldwide tweeted the original video and have since shared corrected the claim of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

‘IRGC obviously have an information failure as they thought it was a British vessel, looks like they chased a random warship instead,’ they wrote.

And the account @NavyLookout tweeted: ‘Claims of harassing a British warship are nonsense. This is not HMS Duncan or Montrose.

The claim that Iran was in pursuit of a British destroyer were derided online after the Revolutionary Guard made the claim

‘All it shows is a boat struggling to keep up with a warship, almost certainly a UAE Baynunah class corvette.’

It comes after HMS Duncan was sent to the Strait of Hormuz as tensions continue between Britain and Iran.

The Royal Navy is guarding every British ship sailing through the strait after Iranian forces illegally seized the UK’s Stena Impero tanker last month. 

The HMS Montrose is also in the Persian Gulf and its captain, Commander William King, told BBC Radio 4 that he’s 85 run-ins with Iran in just 27 days.