Sir Keir Starmer has refused to join Donald Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Reporters revealed on Sunday night that Britain would not send warships to close off the crucial shipping lane to oil tankers, after Mr Trump said the US Navy would be helped by other countries.
On Monday, Sir Keir confirmed he would not assist, declaring: “We’re not supporting the blockade.”
Britain will instead deploy minesweepers to clear the waterway, which has been controlled by Iran since the war began.
On Sunday evening, the US president announced a naval blockade of “any and all ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz” after negotiations to end the war collapsed.
It will come into effect at 10am US eastern standard time (3pm BST) on Monday, the president confirmed on Monday morning.
Asked whether Britain would help the US, Sir Keir told BBC Radio 5 Live: “What we’ve been doing over the past few weeks is bringing countries together to keep the straits open, not shut.
“And that isn’t a remote issue. All the time the strait is shut … that means oil and gas is not getting to market, that means prices are going up, that means everyone listening to this is facing higher energy bills. And I don’t want that to happen.”
“We’re not supporting the blockade. And all of the marshalling, diplomatically, politically and capability, we do have minesweeping capability … that’s all focused, from our point of view, on getting the straits fully open.
“We want to get energy prices down as quickly as possible. I’m very concerned about the impact this war is having on people in the UK.”
Islamabad talks
JD Vance, the US vice-president, who led the US delegation in Islamabad, said the two sides failed to reach an agreement after 21 hours because Tehran refused to give up its nuclear programme.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said Iran had negotiated with the US in “good faith to end the war”.
“But … we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade,” he added on X. “Zero lessons earned. Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity.”
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s lead negotiator, said Washington had failed to earn his trust.
Reacting angrily to the breakdown in negotiations, Mr Trump said America would stop ships from entering or leaving the key oil and gas shipping lane. Without naming them, he said other countries would help.
The blockade – designed to stop Iran from profiteering by charging ships a fee to pass – triggered a sharp rise in oil prices when markets opened on Monday morning.
Speaking to journalists as he disembarked Air Force One on Sunday night, Mr Trump said Iran was in a “very bad shape” and that “other nations” were working together to ensure Tehran would “not be able to sell oil”.
The president then took aim at Nato saying: “I’m very disappointed in Nato. They weren’t there for us. We pay trillions of dollars for Nato and they weren’t there for us…
“Now they want to come up, but there’s no real threat any more… I think that’s going to be under very serious examination.”
Earlier in the day, in his first public remarks since the peace talks failed, the US president criticised Nato members, including Britain, for their refusal to support offensive operations against Iran, calling the defensive alliance “shameful”.
Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social network: “So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, nuclear, was not.
“Effective immediately, the US navy, the finest in the world, will begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.”
On Monday, a British minister failed five times to state whether the Government agreed with Mr Trump’s blockade.
Olivia Bailey, an education minister, told Sky News: “We won’t be taking any part in it and we want to see free navigation of the Strait of Hormuz.
She repeatedly declined to say whether she agreed. When challenged for a fifth time, she responded: “I hope I’m being clear that we will not be taking part in it. We think that freedom of the Strait of Hormuz is really important.”
Downing Street said Britain was “urgently working with France and other partners to put together a wide coalition to protect freedom of navigation” after a phone call between Sir Keir and Emmanuel Macron, the French president.
Britain has mine-hunting systems in the region that could be used to help clear the strait of naval mines laid by Iran, but this is likely to take place once fighting has stopped.
On Sunday, Mr Trump again compared Sir Keir to Neville Chamberlain, whose premiership was defined by his 1930s appeasement of Nazi Germany.
“Look at the UK,” Mr Trump told Fox News. “PM Starmer said: ‘We’ll send the equipment after the war is over.’
“I said: ‘You don’t need equipment when the war is over. You need the equipment before the war starts, or during the war.’ He made a public statement that ‘we will send equipment after the war is over’ – that’s a Neville Chamberlain statement.” The US military said two destroyers had sailed through the strait ahead of mine-clearing operations.
Sir Keir has repeatedly ruled out direct British involvement in the war, saying: “This is not our war. We will not be drawn into this conflict. That is not in our national interest.”
Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, branded Sir Keir “pathetic” for insisting the conflict in the Middle East was not Britain’s concern, suggesting the UK should offer its support to the US as a quid pro quo for securing greater American backing for Ukraine.
“I think Donald Trump has a very, very good point about Nato, and we should be there to help,” Mr Johnson said.
“Just to say ‘this is not our war’ is absolutely pathetic. The main reason it’s pathetic is because the Iranians can see that the West is just divided, and that’s a massive blessing for Vladimir Putin and everybody else in Ukraine.”
Nato members including Britain have been reluctant to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually travels.
Tehran has throttled the strait in retaliation for the month-long US-Israeli campaign against it, causing global oil prices to soar. Since the war began, Tehran has charged ships roughly $1 per barrel, payable in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, for safe passage.
By enforcing a blockade on the blockade, Washington is trying to reduce Iran’s leverage over the strait, but the policy will also have ramifications for countries that trade with Iran, including India and China.
Half of China’s seaborne oil imports pass through the strait. Mr Trump is aiming to pressure Beijing into pushing Iran to give up its nuclear programme and accept a deal.
In response to Mr Trump’s naval threat, Iranian state media reported it had deployed navy special forces along its southern coastline in preparation for an American land invasion.
Janiv Shah, the vice president of oil markets at Rystad Energy, said the blockade “could put some upside on prices as we see conflict increasing once more, combined with the peace talks not resulting in any deal”.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s economic envoy, suggested on X that oil could soon reach $150 a barrel.
However, Neil Wilson, an investment strategist at Saxo UK, said markets were fatigued by Mr Trump’s declarations and the effect might be more limited. He said: “We and markets know Trump threatens to escalate in order to negotiate.”
Mr Wilson said many investors were still committed to the “Taco” trade – Trump Always Chickens Out. In other words, investors will bet on limited oil price rises on the belief the US president will ultimately back away from his threat to blockade the strait.
In Israel, a different view took hold, as the Israel Defense Forces were ordered to move to a heightened state of readiness and prepare for a return to war.