Britain is ‘intensively looking’ at how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end Iran‘s stranglehold over the key oil shipping route, Ed Miliband has said.
The Energy Secretary said there were ‘a range of things’ the UK could do to help unblock the narrow sea passage, as he did not rule out sending minehunting drones.
Tehran is blockading the Strait of Hormuz out of the Persian Gulf, stemming the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East and pushing up energy prices across the globe.
Donald Trump on Saturday urged the UK and other nations to send naval vessels to help secure the Strait, amid rising panic about soaring fuel costs.
In the wake of the US President’s call, it has been reported that Britain could deploy minehunting drones from the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, which is currently in the Middle East.
It has also emerged that interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, could be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones.
Asked on Sunday if Britain was looking at sending minesweepers or minehunting drones to the Strait of Hormuz, Mr Miliband told Sky News: ‘We are talking to our allies. There’s different ways in which we can make maritime shipping possible.
‘We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done, because it’s so important that we get the strait reopened.’
Tehran is blockading the Strait of Hormuz out of the Persian Gulf, stemming the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East and pushing up energy prices across the globe
Ed Miliband said there were ‘a range of things’ the UK could do to help unblock the narrow sea passage, as he did not rule out sending minehunting drones
Mr Miliband had earlier said there are ‘a range of things that we can do, including autonomous minehunting equipment’, but refused to speculate on how far along these proposals were.
The Energy Secretary also claimed the Iran crisis showed Britain must ‘go further and faster’ on achieving his Net Zero goals, including to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030.
Mr Miliband refused to be drawn into suggestions that Britain did not have a large enough military to meet all its commitments, as well as respond to the crisis.
It follows a furious row over the UK’s failure to have a significant Royal Navy presence in the region when the US and Israel began their strikes on Iran.
Mr Miliband said: ‘Of course it’s the case that there are significant demands in this unstable world on our Armed Forces.
‘I think our Armed Forces are actually doing a fantastic job in responding to those demands, and as I say, it is this Government that is investing in our Armed Forces.’
In an appeal to nations affected by spiking energy prices, Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday: ‘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 per cent of the world’s oil ordinarily passes through each day
Numerous oil tankers have come under fire as they attempted to pass through since the start of the Iran conflict.
There have also been growing concerns that Iran has starting placing sea mines in the strait to frustrate shipping.
Donald Trump on Saturday urged the UK and other nations to send naval vessels to help secure the Strait, amid rising panic about soaring fuel costs
‘Octopus’ interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, could also be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones
Military chiefs are now considering the deployment of minehunting drones to deal with that threat, it is understood.
The Sunday Times, which first reported the proposals, said the minehunting drones could be deployed from the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, which is currently in the Middle East.
But the newspaper said it is not known how many drones are in service and which could be deployed.
The Sunday Telegraph meanwhile reported that interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, could also be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones.
That option is understood to be at a much earlier stage of consideration.
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 this week.
Mr Trump has threatened to ‘wipe out’ Kharg Island, a vital part of Iran’s oil infrastructure, should Tehran not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
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’.
