UK says it will not join any US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz

LONDON: The United Kingdom will not take part in any United States blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, according to remarks carried by local media after US President Donald Trump said the US Navy would block the strategic waterway.

Sky News quoted a British government spokesperson as saying London continued to back open passage through the strait and opposed any move to impose charges on it.

“We continue to support freedom of navigation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, which is urgently needed to support the global economy and the cost of living back home”, the spokesperson said, according to Sky News.

“The Strait of Hormuz must not be subject to tolling”, the official added.

The spokesperson also said Britain was working with France and other partners to assemble a wider coalition aimed at protecting freedom of navigation in the area. The official said London was urgently pursuing those efforts.

Earlier, Trump had said the UK was sending minesweepers to assist in clearing the strait. However, Sky News reported that Britain would not be involved in a blockade.

Strain in UK-US ties over Iran

British Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Sky News that differences with Washington over Iran had put pressure on relations between the two allies. He said Trump had made a series of inflammatory comments in recent days.

“Over the course of the last week, President Trump has said some pretty bold - in 'Yes Minister' language - incendiary, provocative, outrageous things on social media”, Streeting said, referring to the British political satire sitcom.

He also said it was often difficult to determine what Trump meant in his social media posts.

“I think we've all come to learn that you judge President Trump through what he does, not just what he says”, he said.

Defending the British government's decision not to join the Iran war, Streeting said the conflict was not one Britain had chosen.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also said the Iran war is not Britain's war and that the UK will not be drawn into it. That position came as Trump said he was considering withdrawing the United States from NATO because of what he described as insufficient support from allies during the Iran war.

Regional backdrop

More than 3,300 people have been killed in US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran since February 28. Iran responded with strikes on Israel, Iraq, Jordan and Gulf states hosting US military assets before a two-week ceasefire was announced earlier this week.

It also said Iranian and US delegations held direct talks in Islamabad early on Sunday, but the discussions ended without an agreement.