UK says military planners to meet next week to discuss 'viable options' for safer Strait of Hormuz navigation

LONDON

The UK will convene a meeting of military planners next week to discuss "viable options" to make the Strait of Hormuz "safe for navigation," its Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"Next week, the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters will convene a meeting of military planners to discuss viable options to make the Strait of Hormuz accessible and safe for navigation," the ministry said in its daily update on UK military activity in the Middle East amid the US-Iran war.

On Wednesday Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that military planners will convene to assess how to "marshal our capabilities" to ensure the strait is accessible and safe after the fighting ends.

Earlier Thursday, representatives from more than 40 countries attended virtual talks convened by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss the situation in the strait.

Cooper said Iran is holding the world economy "hostage" with its Hormuz attacks.

For weeks Tehran has maintained effective control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for energy supplies to Asian nations, only allowing vessels of those nations Iran calls "friendly countries."

The entire region has been on alert since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, so far killing over 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, as well as Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.