Yesterday, six major world powers, including Britain, France, Germany, and Japan, indicated they were ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
“We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning,” the group, which also includes Italy and the Netherlands, said in a joint statement. They also condemned “in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf,” according to AFP.
The announcement comes at a time when an effective Iranian blockade of the strait has stopped commercial shipping through the important maritime chokepoint, which sees a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas transit through it in peacetime.
The US and Israel started attacking Iran on February 28, which started the war. Since then, Tehran has attacked ships in the Gulf region, and 23 commercial boats, including 10 tankers, have reported being attacked or experiencing problems.
The International Maritime Organization said that the situation has left over 20,000 sailors stuck aboard about 3,200 ships west of the strait.
The united statement from the allies said, “We are very worried about the conflict getting worse.”
“We want Iran to stop threatening, planting mines, attacking with drones and missiles, and other tactics to restrict commercial ships in the Strait right away.
“Freedom of navigation” is a basic rule of international law, even under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
It went on to say, “People all over the world will feel the effects of Iran’s actions, especially the most vulnerable.”
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has asked other world powers and NATO to help reopen the Hormuz Strait to commercial shipping. However, they have turned down his request for the time being, saying they are open to talks and preparation.
A UK defense official told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday, “The level of threat is such that I don’t see many nations being willing to put warships into the middle of that threat right now.”
He went on to say, “We’re working closely with allies and partners to figure out what we can do and what we can offer when the time is right.”
The defense official said that London had dispatched a “small number” of extra military “planners” to US Central Command (CENTCOM) to “help with the planning and option development for… whatever comes next in the Strait of Hormuz might look like.”
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