Coalition of countries to work on rescuing ships trapped in strait of Hormuz

Yvette Cooper hosted virtual summit of more than 40 countries aimed at reopening vital shipping lane

Plans to clear sea mines and rescue trapped ships in the strait of Hormuz will be discussed at a global military planning meeting next week, after a virtual summit of more than 40 countries convened on Thursday hosted by Yvette Cooper.

Ahead of the summit, the British foreign secretary condemned “Iranian recklessness” for “hitting global economic security” as she led talks aimed at reopening the vital shipping lane.

The discussions are taking place without the US, which began the war on Iran, with the UK, France, Germany, Australia and some Gulf nations exploring what could be done to restore access to the maritime route.

The US president, Donald Trump, has suggested countries that rely on the strait should “build up some delayed courage” and “just grab it”.

However, Keir Starmer has said unblocking the lane, which carries 10-25% of the world’s oil and gas supplies, would “not be easy”.

Chairing a video call with counterparts, the UK foreign secretary said: “In today’s meeting, we are focusing on the diplomatic and international planning measures, including collective mobilisation of our full range of diplomatic and economic tools and pressures, reassurance work with industry, insurers and energy markets, and also action to guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and effective coordination that we need across the world to enable a safe and sustained opening of the strait.”

She said Iran had carried out more than 25 attacks on vessels in the strait and that “there are some 20,000 trapped seafarers on some 2,000 trapped ships”.

She said: “Iranian recklessness towards countries who were never involved in this conflict … is not just hitting mortgage rates and petrol prices and the cost of living here in the UK and in many different countries across the world, it is hitting our global economic security.”

Highlighting the importance of the strait, Cooper pointed to World Bank predictions that a continued blockage could push 9 million people worldwide into food insecurity “alongside the unsustainable increases that we have seen in oil prices and food prices hitting households and businesses in every corner of the world”.

At another meeting next Tuesday, military planners would consider how to “marshal our collective defensive military capabilities”, Cooper said, including looking at issues such as clearing mines that have possibly been laid by Tehran to sink ships in the sea passage.

The meeting will be convened by Britain’s Permanent Joint Headquarters, where all its overseas military operations are planned, based in Northwood, north-west London, but some international leaders are expected to join virtually.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said on Thursday that Trump must not abandon “a mess that he’s made” in the Middle East by leaving other countries to reopen the strait.

Speaking during a visit to north-east England, she said: “If I was speaking to him, I’d be saying, ‘if you break it, you own it’. That’s what Colin Powell, a former secretary of state in the US, had said. ‘If you break it, you own it’.

“He started this war. We said that if he needed support against Iran … use our airbases. That’s one of the things that Britain has done. He should now not be abandoning a mess that he’s made, if he thinks that it is a mess.”

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, told a press conference he was not “angry” with his ally, Trump, for entering the war, but said it was “difficult listening to the press conferences sometimes” to work out what the president’s motivation was.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, meanwhile, urged Starmer to “step up” plans to reopen the oil and gas shipping route throttled by Iran, adding: “The prime minister needs to show an alternative.”