LABOUR Prime Minister Starmer yesterday rebuffed US President Trump’s demand that the UK joins him in escalating the war on Iran.
Trump urged Britain and other countries to send warships to the Gulf to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is vital for global oil supplies.
Starmer told a news conference yesterday morning that the UK already has minehunters in the region but that there is no decision yet on what action would be taken.
He stressed that he would not allow the UK to be drawn into ‘the wider war’.
The Strait has been effectively closed to tankers since the conflict broke out, leading to surging oil prices.
Iran has threatened to attack any ship it considers linked to the US, while there is also a risk from sea mines.
Starmer said: ‘Ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability on the market. That is not a simple task.
‘So we’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable, collective plan that can restore the freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease economic impact.’
In an interview that appeared in yesterday’s Financial Times, Trump reiterated his calls for allies to join the US in military action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and warned that the NATO military alliance faced a ‘very bad’ future if its members failed to help.
Trump said: ‘It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there.’
He had previously urged the UK, China, France, Japan and South Korea to send ships to secure the route.
Pressed over whether he was refusing Trump’s demand to commit the Royal Navy to action in the Strait, Starmer said the UK is ‘looking through the options’.
Asked about the state of the UK’s relationship with the US Starmer said: ‘It is for me to act in what I consider to be the best interests of Britain.’
A German government spokesman said the war ‘has nothing to do with NATO’, adding that it was an alliance to defend territory.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said there would be ‘no military participation’ from Germany, although Berlin was prepared to support diplomatic efforts to protect the Strait.
‘What does Donald Trump expect from a handful of European frigates in the Strait of Hormuz that the mighty US navy cannot manage alone?’ he added.
Iran’s commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, said the force has not completely closed the Strait of Hormuz but merely controls passage through it.
