Updates with comments from US energy secretary, Iran's foreign minister.
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 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.
US energy secretary Chris Wright told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that he expects China will be a "constructive partner" in helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
A crucial chokepoint for global energy trade which last year handled around 19mn b/d of crude and petroleum products, the strait has been largely closed to shipping since early March because of the threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran.
But some ships are getting through. Five tankers carrying LPG, LNG and crude went through the strait of Hormuz last night, Wright said. "So, we know flow through the straits of Hormuz is possible."
Iran did not fire on those vessels. "Probably they made a deal with India," Wright said.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that Tehran has been approached by a "number of countries" wanting to have safe passage through the strait. "This is up to our military to decide," he said.
Tehran has fired on other vessels in the region 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.
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.
