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The UK will host talks on Thursday between 35 countries aimed at forming a coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as countries respond to Donald Trump’s threat to wind down the Iran conflict without securing the vital waterway.
Sir Keir Starmer said on Wednesday the meeting of foreign ministers would discuss ways to “make the Strait accessible and safe after the fighting has stopped”. Military planners will also meet this week to discuss naval options.
The prime minister said UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper would host ministerial talks to “assess all viable diplomatic and political measures that we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and resume the movement of vital commodities”.
Other countries including France, the Netherlands and Gulf states have been involved in private discussions over what naval assets they would be willing to provide to any potential coalition, four officials briefed on the talks told the FT.
Military escorts, mine-sweeping operations and other defences against possible attacks by Iran are all under consideration, the officials said.
The proposed coalition would not operate as a Nato mission, the officials said, and would involve countries from outside the military alliance. The proposal is intended to be deployed after a ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran, but is being fast-tracked in response to Trump’s threat.
On Tuesday, the US president said that countries like the UK should “go get their own oil” if they were facing potential shortages from the Hormuz crisis, lashing out over their refusal to get directly involved in the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Tehran closed the strait, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas previously flowed, in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes in late February. Global energy prices have surged in response, raising fears of an economic crisis.
European countries had initially rebuffed Trump’s demand last month to send their navies to the strait, for fear of being dragged into the conflict. Diplomats also privately said their governments were also not willing to help Trump fix a problem he had created.
But the extent of the energy crisis and concerns over a long-term block on oil and gas shipments, plus Trump’s repeated condemnation of Nato allies for not being willing to support him, have forced a rethink, the officials said.
Starmer said the UK was “exploring each and every diplomatic avenue that is available to us” as part of efforts aimed at “reopening of the Strait of Hormuz”.
“Following this meeting, we will also convene our military planners to look at how we can marshal our capabilities,” Starmer added.
But the UK premier told a Downing Street press conference that any international operation to keep the strait open could be complex and messy.
“I don’t think you can necessarily assume that a de-escalation of the conflict would necessarily at the same time bring the safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
He added: “I do have to level with people on this: it will not be easy.” He said the problem for shipping in the region was not the availability of insurance but one of “safety and security of passage”.
Two of the officials briefed on the talks said the naval coalition building has been complicated by the disparate nature of the assets available from each participant. Some countries have offered to provide minesweepers but no frigates to defend them, for example.
A spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign minister said the effort was “very similar to the coalition of the willing in Ukraine”, being formed to protect a potential ceasefire in Russia’s war against Kyiv.
Belgium is not one of the 35 countries officially signed up to the UK-led initiative but is still willing to participate in the coalition in the event of a ceasefire, the spokesperson said, adding: “Everything will depend on what the decision of President Trump will be . . . It is not very clear at this moment what the next stage will be.”
Additional reporting by Laura Dubois in Brussels
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