Human fossils outside africa for the first time and. England prepare to take on australia in the cricket world cup semifinal at edgbaston. Good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. A Royal Navy Frigate has intercepted iranian boats that were harassing a British Oil Tanker in the gulf. The ministry of defence says hms montrose moved between the tanker and the iranian vessels, issuing a number of warnings over radio, before they moved off. Iran has previously threatened retaliation for the seizure of a tanker carrying iranian oil off gibraltar last week. The ministry of defence said three iranian vessels, believed to belong to the revolutionary guards, asked the tanker to stop in iranian waters close by, but withdrew after a warning from a Royal Navy Frigate. Its a strategically very important stretch of water between the persian gulf and the gulf of oman, bordered by iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iran has denied any encounter between its forces and foreign ships in the last 2a hours. Peter bowes has this report on the latest incident. Growing tensions in the persian gulf. When Royal Marines helped officials in gibraltar seize an iranian supertanker last week, tehran said it was a form of piracy and that a British Oil Tanker should be seized if the iranian ship is not released. It was suspected of carrying oil from iran to syria, in breach of eu sanctions. You will realise the consequences, said president hassan rouhani. Translation you, britain, are the initiator of insecurity and you will realise the consequences later. Now you are so hopeless that when one of your tankers wants to move in the region, you have to bring your frigates to escort it, because you are scared. Less than a week later, theres been a confrontation in the persian gulf that looks like retaliation. Five armed iranian boats attempted to seize a british tanker before backing off when confronted by a warship. No shots were fired. In a statement, the Us Defence Department said it was aware of reports of harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the uk flagged merchant vessel British Heritage near the strait of hormuz. It added that threats to International Freedom of navigation require an international solution. There have been growing calls from iran for reciprocal action after the detention of its supertanker off gibraltar. Last month, two oil tankers, one norwegian owned, the otherjapanese, were attacked in the gulf of oman. The us blamed iran. This latest incident will only intensify the strain on anglo iranian relations. Simonjones is at the ministry of defence in Central London for us. Give us more detail on what the Defence Ministry are saying. The mod have said they are concerned by what happened and they are calling on tehran to de escalate tensions in the region. Officials here have given us a few more details of what they say happened. They say the british tanker was just off the coast of iran, making its way along the area when it was confronted by three iranian boats. We are told those iranian boats were trying to get the british tanker to slow down and come to a halt and change its path, but the british tanker was actually being accompanied by a Royal Navy Frigate. At that point, the frigate positioned itself between the iranian boats and the british tanker, reportedly training its guns on the iranian boat, and sending messages on the radio, telling the iranians they had to get out of their way immediately. At that point, the iranian boat obey those orders and the tension was de escalated. But certainly a lot of concern here amongst officials about what happened. And to a certain extent, some of this was expected or at least prepared for, hence the hms montrose being with the tanker, because the iranians had won, or some iranian officials had warned that there might be retaliation for the incident off gibraltar last week . The warnings had come clearly from iran that there were going to be consequences in relation to what happened last week. That was when an iranian supertanker was intercepted off the coast of gibraltar. Royal marines were involved in that. The british authorities said the reason they intercepted that supertanker was because they believed it was heading to syria carrying oil, and that would be in breach of eu sanctions. But after that happened, tehran was saying it was completely unacceptable. They described it as piracy and said there would be some retaliation for that. Interestingly, this morning we are getting a very different version of events out of tehran in terms of this latest incident. They are saying they dont accept that iranian boats were trying to intercept this british tanker. They have described the version of events given by the ministry of defence as meaningless. They say that the british are telling these stories to ratchet up tension in the region. They are denying that this confrontation, that there was this aim behind it to try to seize this british tanker is a message of retaliation. Simon, thanks. Lets talk now to rear admiral dr chris parry, former Royal Navy Warfare officer. We were hearing from simon that the iranians are denying any involvement in that. Is that plausible deniability, or do you buy it . |j dont buy at all. We know the iranians are past masters at pushing out fake news and denying anything. There is a bigger problem too. I am not sure the iranian government is in control of these situations. The Iranian Revolutionary guards, i think, are at the heart of this. They perpetrated the shoot down of the american drone. I think they attached explosives to tank as a couple of weeks ago, and i am sure they are at the heart of this as well. The reason for that is the great one, the tanker that was almost certainly taking contraband oil to syria, is controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary guard. It is pa rt Iranian Revolutionary guard. It is part of their Industrial Complex that they have in iran. American and eu sanctions recently squeezed them hard. How worrying do you see the actual specifics of this operation by hms montrose, these three iranian boats. Are you concerned by that or do you think that is a barely co ntrolla ble do you think that is a barely controllable incident . The montrose was going about her business, protecting those who are at sea on occasions. It is right that she should be both escorting and protecting british or indeed any other european ship that is in the region. I think we took a measured response to what was a calculated attempt to seize a british tanker and im afraid we have seen it before. In the 1980s, i was in a destroyer doing exactly the same thing when the iranians tried to apply pressure in the strait of hormuz. What we should be worried about is that the iranians themselves feel they have to ratchet up themselves feel they have to ratchet up the pressure because they have lost faith in this situation. We might see not only further attempts in the gulf, but elsewhere as well. Do you see this as part of a bigger geostrategic picture for the uk and the United States at this time . Do you think the iranians are playing the british off against the americans, against the eu allies . No. There is a special place in iranian thoughts for america as the great satan. They always see us as the little satan, and they always feel that they lose face if they back down against either us or the United States, so its an ongoing issue. But there is a biggerfactor at play here. Its about the freedom of the seas. The streets of hormuz are an International Straight and one of the things i write about is the sea as the physical equivalent of the world wide web. What goes virtually actually goes by sea, and we cant allow malware, if you like, to close down if the web was physical equivalent, the sea. Whether its happening in the streets of hormuz, the South China Sea or anywhere else, the royal navy and the United States navy and our allies are there to protect that freedom. Its a compelling image. How much will it cost to protect against the malware, as you describe it . Obviously, its a very busy sea route, with tankers coming and going. Does the uk need more than hms montrose there . They may do, it depends on the reaction of the iranians. They have significant land based missiles. They have aircraft to bring to bear as well as these fast attack craft. But its nothing the royal navy and the United States navy hasnt had to do before. They will take it in their stride. Wejust before. They will take it in their stride. We just have to reallocate and prioritise to make sure we maintain the freedom of the seas that has frankly underpinned globalisation of the last 350 years. Thanks forjoining us. Senior labour figures have expressed anger and alarm at claims that some ofJeremy Corbyns closest allies tried to interfere in disciplinary processes involving allegations of anti semitism. A bbc panorama investigation that aired last night heard from a number of former officials who worked in the partys disputes team. Labour rejected any claim that the party was anti semitic. Heres our political correspondent, jessica parker. E mails leaked to panorama suggest that labours general secretary, jennie formby, attempted to interfere in the selection of a Disciplinary Panel and later that she deleted the correspondence on her official labour party account. The correspondence also shows that Jeremy Corbyns own personal e mail was copied in. Labour said that she temporarily stopped using her party e mail because of concerns that a political opponent had access to it, and the e mails were about ensuring the panel was held accountable for the length of time they take to hear cases. The man who was in charge at party hq for years is iain mcnicol. The e mails that youve shown me are really important. The issues that are raised within them should ring alarm bells across the party. Panorama spoke to seven former officials from labours disputes team. I resigned my membership. I felt that i had tried as hard as i possibly could to do my bit to fight this, this sickness. And to me, its getting worse. I knew the atmosphere was bad, but it kept building up and up. I felt a bit complicit, actually. In what . In the labour party not dealing with anti semitism properly. Chant shame on you, shame on you labour has said the former staff making claims are disaffected and the party insists it is implacably opposed to anti semitism. We will do all we can to make it very clear to anybody who thinks that they can have those abhorrent views in our party and in ourfamily that they are not welcome. There has already been considerable pressure onjeremy corbyn around allegations of anti semitism in the party. Now, signs that that pressure could only increase further. Jessica parker, bbc news. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is in our westminster studio. How serious is this for the labour party . Very serious, you get an indication of that from the response from the labour party, which is full rebuttal mode, batten down the hatches, attacking the bbc and the makers of the programme and the labour staff who took part in the programme, labelling them as disaffected anti corbin individuals with a personal and political axe to grind, suggesting that one of them was facing a grievance procedure from another labour party employee, also suggesting that one deliberately sought an e mail from Jeremy Corbyns director of communications, seamus milne, perhaps to release it later to embarrass mr milne. Suggestions that they misapplied party rules when they misapplied party rules when they were part of the disciplinary process , they were part of the disciplinary process, a whole series of allegations which have now been condemned by the partys deputy leader tom watson, who says he deplores the criticism and attacks on individuals who he described as very brave. It has sparked calls for a complete shake up of the disciplinary moves. It has been suggested that there should be a fully independent procedure outside of the party, which should include representatives of the jewish community. He suggested that there should be an automatic expulsion procedure for those with a prima facie case of making anti semitic remarks. But the real . The real question is whether any of this continued lines jeremy question is whether any of this continued linesjeremy corbyn as leader. Many labour mps that mr corbyn has allowed a culture to develop in the labour party which mr watson called a permissive culture towards anti semitism. In mr watson because my view, the only person who can tackle this problem is the leader himself. Not only do i think he can fix it, i think he is the only one that can fix it. And if he adopt some of the proposals that i am making, then these rule changes will go through our party. It wont be enough to rebuild trust with the jewish community, but it will be a start at trying to challenge a culture of permissiveness that allows anti jewish racism to be casually used in political discussion within one of the two great parties in the united kingdom. I have to say, there is a good deal of pessimism amongst many labour mps that anything is going to change. Even in the aftermath of this investigation by the equality and Human Rights Commission, which is carrying out a statutory investigation into whether the labour party is anti semitic because ofa labour party is anti semitic because of a view held by many labour mps that under mr corbyns leadership, with the massive expansion in party membership, individuals have been allowed into the labour party who previously would never have been allowed in and who hold views which previously would never have been accepted. But more than that, mr corbyn holds views on the middle east and israel which have given licence to those with views which are completely unacceptable, in other words, who allow their criticism of israel to tip into anti semitism. So there is a view among some labour mps that this may not change as long asjeremy corbyn remains leader. Norman, thanks. Lets speak now to baroness neuberger, the cross bench peer and author of the book anti semitism what it is, what it is not and why it matters. You are obviously not a member of the labour party. I am not. I grew up the labour party. I am not. I grew up in the labour party and my pa rents would up in the labour party and my parents would be ten in their graves, but i am not in the labour party. But you didnt leave due to fears of anti semitism. Party. But you didnt leave due to fears of antisemitism. No, i left in the 1970s, a long time ago. You have served as a rabbi for the best pa rt have served as a rabbi for the best part of nearly a decade. So you have a lot of experience of dealing with the questions of anti semitism. A lot of experience of dealing with the questions of anti semitismlj have. I have been a rabbi for more yea rs have. I have been a rabbi for more years than i care to think, a0 yea rs. Years than i care to think, a0 years. What did you make of the Panorama Programme . Years. What did you make of the Panorama Programme . |j years. What did you make of the Panorama Programme . I was appalled. The first thing i ought to say and that all of us ought to say is a real thank you to those people who we re real thank you to those people who were prepared to speak out on that programme. I thought they were brave. The labour party attacking them and say they are disaffected, i find absolutely shameful. The fact that there were eight of them, and we know the programme spoke to others as well, and all the labour party ca n others as well, and all the labour party can do is say they are rubbish and disaffected and they should be speaking, that is in itself highly questionable. I would expect a responsible employer, let alone the labour party, to show some sympathy to people who have had a breakdown and have suffered stress as a result of all of this. One of the messages that came out from the party was that came out from the party was that these were people with a personal and political axe to grind. So lets not deal with the personal, but the political, is there any credibility there . I dont think so. There are too many of them saying the same thing. They are talking about interference from the top. They are saying they were not able to get on with theirjobs. I know the labour party has denied this, but Mike Crichton said that seamus milne, when he asked him about. The director of communications for jeremy corbyn. When he asked Mike Crichton how they should deal with anti semitism and Mike Crichton said we should be more robust about it, a p pa re ntly we should be more robust about it, apparently seamus milne laughed. The labour party is denying that. It seems strange to deny that that conversation took place. It is not about them being political enemies of corbyn. It is about that they felt they couldnt get on with their jobs. The complaints procedure itself was not sufficiently independent and having a totally independent and having a totally independent complaints procedure or disputes procedure is obviously what is required. Tom watson said that their today. So where do you think their today. So where do you think the labour party should go from here . It needs to be cleaned up. Eitherjeremy corbyn has to accept this and instead of attacking the people, dont shoot the messenger. Instead, look at what is being said and deal with it. Either corbyn deals with it or we have to accept that under his leadership, nothing is going to change. That is what is depressing. We have to see a totally independent complaints dispute procedure. No interference from the top. No use of private e mails. I know there is an equality and Human Rights Commission investigation taking place and i hope they