UK gathers more than 40 countries to plot ways of reopening Strait of Hormuz

LONDON (AP) — Britain accused Iran on Thursday of holding the world’s economy hostage as diplomats from more than 40 countries held talks on ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that has been choked off by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The US is not attending the virtual meeting, which comes after President Donald Trump made clear that he thinks securing the waterway, closed as a consequence of the US-Israeli war on Iran, is not America’s job.

Trump has also disparaged America’s European allies for failing to support the war and renewed his threats to pull the US out of NATO.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the talks, which focus on political and diplomatic rather than military means, showed “the strength of our international determination” to reopen the strait.

“We have seen Iran hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage,” she said at the start of the meeting. Cooper said “unsustainable” spikes in oil and food prices were “hitting households and businesses in every corner of the world.”

Iranian attacks on commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the globe’s oceans, shutting a critical path for the world’s flow of oil and sending petroleum prices soaring.

There have been 23 direct attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf since the war began on February 28, and 11 crew members have been killed, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping data firm.

Traffic through the strait has slowed to a trickle, with remaining tanker traffic dominated by sanctions-evading tankers carrying Iranian oil, Lloyd’s List Intelligence said in a briefing Thursday.

It said a murky operation under which Iran vets who can pass continues to operate as Tehran maintains its chokehold over the key waterway.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, Trump said countries that depend on oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz “must grab it and cherish it” — because the US would not.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.