Britain is considering sending minehunting drones to secure the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow sea passage out of the Persian Gulf, where some 20% of the world’s oil passes through each day
Iran has warned the UK will face consequences if it helps the US reopen a key oil shipping route in the Middle East.
Britain is considering sending minehunting drones to secure the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is blockading the narrow sea passage out of the Persian Gulf, where some 20% of the world’s oil ordinarily passes through each day.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, today said any involvement from the UK to protect the vital shipping lane “would be complicity in the crime of aggression”, which would be “responded to by Iran”.
It comes after it was revealed Britain is considering sending minehunting drones to unblock Iran’s stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz, as Donald Trump called for allied warships to protect tankers in the region.
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There have been increasing concerns the Iranian regime is laying mines to disrupt the passage and cause global economic pain. Minehunting drones could be deployed from the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, which is already currently in the Middle East.
Meanwhile officials are exploring the use of interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, to be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones.
On Sunday, Ed Miliband said the UK is “intensively” looking at what it can do to help reopen the key oil shipping route. He said: “It is very important that we get the Strait of Hormuz reopened 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.”
But speaking to Times Radio, Baghaei discouraged Britain from getting involved. He said: “That would be complicity in the crime of aggression, crime against peace, and that would for sure be responded by Iran.” He added: “We are not at war with the UK”
Iran has already hit the UK’s RAF base in Cyprus just hours after Keir Starmer confirmed he had allowed the US to use British military sites for “limited” and “defensive” strikes on Iran.
On Saturday the US president urged the UK and other nations to send naval vessels to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.
In an appeal to nations affected by the price spikes on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said: “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.”
In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline and continually shooting Iranian boats and ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
The Ministry of Defence responded by saying “a range of options” were being considered to secure shipping through the strait, where some 20% of the world’s oil ordinarily passes through each day. But Britain’s only minehunter in the Gulf – HMS Middleton – left the region days before the war erupted in the Middle East and was towed back into Portsmouth.
Numerous oil tankers have come under fire as they attempted to pass through the strait since the start of the conflict. There have also been growing concerns that Iran has started placing sea mines in the strait to frustrate shipping.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, vowed to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz as a means of pressuring the US in his first public statement.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, told CBS News on Sunday that Iran is “open to countries who want to talk” about the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Trump has threatened to “wipe out” Kharg Island, a vital part of Iran’s oil infrastructure, should Tehran not reopen the passage. The US has already “totally obliterated” a series of military targets on the island in recent strikes which Mr Trump described as “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East”.
Hopes of any ceasefire in the conflict deteriorated further over the weekend after Mr Trump clashed with Iran over talks of a deal. Iran hit back at the US President after he rejected the country’s plea for a deal because “the terms are not good enough yet”. But Iran’s Araghchi said Tehran has “never asked for a ceasefire, we have never asked even for negotiation”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey today said the UK should not be at “Donald Trump’s beck and call” over Iran. Sir Ed said “de-escalation is the best way to keep the Straits of Hormuz open” and the UK “should be very careful about being dragged into a war that we didn’t start and is damaging our country and our economy”.
Elsewhere, three arrests were made amid a protest and counter-protest for Al Quds Day in London on Sunday. Al Quds Day demonstrators chanted “from the river to the sea” and held pictures of the late leader of Iran at a static protest in the capital.
The annual Al Quds Day demonstration had drawn criticism over apparent backing for the Iranian regime after its organisers expressed support for the country’s late leader.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “HMS Middleton was returned to the UK to undergo a planned upkeep period. Once regenerated, it will rejoin the Fleet.
“Meanwhile, we have an autonomous minehunting capability deployed in the region. This is part of our transition towards a hybrid Navy, where uncrewed vessels and autonomous systems are increasingly taking on these roles.”