{"id":47515,"date":"2026-04-13T12:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=47515"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:04:35","slug":"uk-will-not-back-blockade-of-strait-of-hormuz-starmer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=47515","title":{"rendered":"UK will not back blockade of Strait of Hormuz, Starmer says"},"content":{"rendered":"
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that, whatever the pressure, Britain \u200bwould not be dragged into the Iran war nor be involved in \u200ca blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

“We’re not supporting the blockade,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live, adding that it was vital to get the Strait reopened.<\/p>\n

“It is, in my view, vital that \u200bwe get the Strait open and fully open, and that’s where we’ve put \u200ball of our efforts in the last few weeks and we’ll \u2060continue to do so,” Starmer said.<\/p>\n

Britain had minesweepers in the region, he said, and \u200bwhile he could not discuss operational matters, the military capability was “focused from our point \u200bof view on getting the Strait fully open”.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Iran says Gulf ports are ‘either for everyone or for no one’<\/p>\n

Starmer said Britain was facing pressure to join the war, but he would not do so unless there was a “clear lawful basis” and a “clear thought-through plan”.<\/p>\n

“My \u200bdecision has been very clearly that whatever the pressure, and there’s been some considerable \u200bpressure, we’re not getting dragged into the war,” he said.<\/p>\n

Starmer also posted on X about the UK and France co-hosting “a summit to advance work on a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping when the conflict ends.”<\/p>\n

The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz is deeply damaging. Getting global shipping moving is vital to ease cost of living pressures.<\/p>\n

The UK has convened more than 40 nations who share our aim to restore freedom of navigation.<\/p>\n

This week the UK and France will co-host a\u2026
\n\u2014 Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 13, 2026<\/p>\n

About 40 \u200bcountries at the beginning of April discussed joint action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and stop Iran holding “the global economy hostage,” Britain said, after US President Donald Trump \u200csaid securing the waterway was for others to resolve.<\/p>\n

The discussions took \u200bplace after Trump said on Wednesday evening that the Strait could open “naturally” and it was the responsibility of countries that \u2060rely on the waterway to ensure it was open.<\/p>\n

The US military said it would begin a blockade \u200cof \u2060all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas on Monday, after weekend talks failed to reach a deal to end the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Read More: What does a US naval blockade of Iran mean for oil flows?<\/p>\n

The US Central Command said that the US blockade, starting at 10am ET on Monday (7pm PKT), \u200bwould be “enforced impartially against \u200bvessels of all \u2060nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.”<\/p>\n

Vessels transiting \u200bthe Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports will \u200bnot be \u2060impeded, the US military said.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump said on Sunday US forces would also intercept every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran.<\/p>\n

“No one who pays \u2060an illegal \u200btoll will have safe passage on the high \u200bseas,” Trump wrote on social media, adding: “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be \u200bBLOWN TO HELL!”<\/p>\n

Also Read:\u00a0US blockade of Iran will be major military endeavor, experts say<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the unified command of the Iranian armed forces said the ports in the Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman are \u201ceither for everyone or for no one\u201d, state broadcaster\u00a0IRIB\u00a0reported, according to\u00a0Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran consider defending the legal rights of our country a natural and legal duty, and accordingly, exercising the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the territorial waters of our country is the natural right of the Iranian nation,\u201d\u00a0IRIB\u00a0cited Iran\u2019s forces as stating.<\/p>\n

The forces’ statement read \u201cEnemy-affiliated vessels\u201d will have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, while other vessels will be allowed passage, subject to regulations by Tehran. \u201cThe criminal US\u2019s imposition of restrictions on the movement of vessels in international waters is an illegal act and amounts to piracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the security of the ports is threatened, no port in the region \u201cwill be safe\u201d, the forces added.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that, whatever the pressure, Britain \u200bwould not be dragged into the Iran war nor be involved in \u200ca blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. “We’re not supporting the blockade,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live, adding that it was vital to get the Strait reopened. “It is, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}