The UK is considering how it can support efforts to reopen the strait of Hormuz after US president Donald Trump asked the UK and other countries to send warships to the waterway to defend against Iranian threats to shipping.
"It is very important that we get the strait of Hormuz reopened," UK energy minister Ed Miliband said on Sunday in an interview with the BBC. "And we have already been talking with our allies, including the US, about this. There are different ways that we could contribute, including with mine-hunting drones. All of these things are being looked at in concert with our allies. Any options that can help to get the strait reopened are being looked at."
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump urged that the UK, China, France, Japan and South Korea to send warships to the strait so that it was no longer subject to threats from Iran and could be reopened.
"The Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — A LOT!" Trump said. "The U.S. will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well. This should have always been a team effort, and now it will be."
In a separate post, Trump added that "hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated."
"One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!" Trump said.
The strait, a crucial chokepoint for global energy trade which last year handled around 19mn b/d of crude and petroleum products, has been effectively closed to shipping since early March because of the threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran.
Tehran has sought to close the waterway, and has attacked US military bases and energy and other infrastructure across the Middle East, as retaliation for the ongoing air attacks launched against Iran by the US and Israel since 28 February.
"The strait of Hormuz must remain closed," Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on 12 March, according to state news agency Irna.
Trump has tasked the US military with reopening the waterway and promised to provide naval escorts for ships stranded in the Mideast Gulf, but senior US military officials on 13 March declined to provide a timeline or details of any plan for how that would be accomplished.
