UK to host meeting of 35 countries on reopening Strait of Hormuz

Before talks with 35 countries, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says reopening strait ‘will not be easy’.The United Kingdom will convene talks with dozens of countries on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced, as the US-Israeli war on Iran has effectively shuttered the critical Gulf waterway.Speaking during a news conference on Wednesday, Starmer said UK Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper would host a virtual meeting of 35 countries on Thursday to assess measures to reopen the strait “after the fighting has stopped”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Iran war: What is happening on day 33 of US-Israel attacks?list 2 of 3Iran attacks cause fire in Kuwait, Bahrain; kill man in UAElist 3 of 3Can Russia help fill the global energy gap?end of listThe meeting will “assess all viable diplomatic and political measures that we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and resume the movement of vital commodities”, the UK prime minister said.“Following that meeting, we will also convene our military planners to look at how we can marshal our capabilities and make the strait accessible and safe after the fighting has stopped,” Starmer added.Starmer says reopening the Strait of Hormuz ‘will not be easy’ [File: Jaimi Joy/Pool via Reuters]Countries around the world have raised serious concerns about Iran’s effective closure of the strait, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas supplies transit, amid US-Israeli attacks on Iran and Iranian attacks on targets across the Middle East.The closure has sent global energy prices soaring and pushed nations to announce that they would release some of their strategic oil and gas reserves in an effort to lessen the crisis.Starmer said on Wednesday that countries that recently signed a statement saying they were ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz” would take part in this week’s talks.