Britain drawn closer to Iran war as a reluctant Starmer moves to appease Trump
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday the UK is working on a "viable plan" to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after speaking to US President Donald Trump.
His comments come after Trump threatened on Sunday night that Nato faces a "very bad" future if its member states fail to help America in opening up the crucial waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes - and which Iran has effectively shut in response to the US-Israeli war on the country.
The president had appealed on Saturday to Britain, China, France, Japan and South Korea to join a "team effort" to open up Hormuz.
This has led to the latest in a series of difficult decisions for the British prime minister, who has sought to avoid active involvement in a war that is opposed by most of the British public.
But the UK has nevertheless become embroiled in the conflict, allowing the US to use British military bases for bombers en route to targeting Iranian missile sites.
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Starmer said in an address from Downing Street on Monday morning that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened to "ensure stability in the markets", adding "that is not a simple task".
He said the UK was working with "all of our allies" on a "viable plan" to reopen the choke point.
Starmer added that the US-Israeli attack on Iran has "massively weakened" the military capability of the "abhorrent regime in Iran", but said there will need to be a "negotiated agreement" with the country to limit its ability to rebuild its nuclear programme and safeguard international shipping.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said on Sunday that the government is considering sending minesweeping drones rather than warships to Hormuz.
Minesweeping drones trick mines into detonating safely by flying in a pattern that makes them appear to be ships.
'A very transactional presidency'
Relations with the US have been strained over Britain’s initial refusal, when the war began, to allow the Americans to use the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to launch strikes on Iran.
Whitehall sources told Middle East Eye that the Starmer government believes the US-Israeli attack has no lawful basis and joining would be against Britain's national interest.
Trump said in an interview on Sunday night, after speaking to Starmer: "The UK might be considered the number one ally, the longest serving et cetera and [at the start of the war] when I asked for them to come, they didn’t want to come.
"And as soon as we basically wiped out the danger capacity from Iran, they said, "oh well we’ll send two ships", and I said, "We need these ships before we win, not after we win." I’ve long said that Nato is a one-way street."
On Monday morning, Pat McFadden, the British work and pensions secretary, responded to Trump's comments by saying the UK was not obliged to agree to all of the US president's requests.
"It’s a very transactional presidency, and our job is to navigate this, to always remember that the friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom runs very deep," McFadden said.
"It’s a good relationship. It’s enduring, and I think it will outlast all the personalities involved."
McFadden insisted that "we’ve not sought to be a protagonist in this" war.
In another interview on Monday, McFadden insisted that the current conflict was "not a Nato war" but a "US-Israeli action".
Nato was founded by the US, Britain and ten other countries in 1949, with one of its key conditions being that an attack on one country should be treated as an attack on all.
McFadden said the alliance was not created for the "kind of situation that we're seeing in the Middle East".
Over the past two weeks, numerous US B-1 Lancer bombers have taken off from the Fairford Royal Air Force base in Gloucestershire in southern England to carry out strikes on Iran.
Last Friday, a base in northern Iraq used by British troops was attacked by Iranian drones, wounding a number of American soldiers.
Starmer said on Monday morning that his priority is to work to "de-escalate" the war.
But as events escalate and Trump's demands continue, Britain is finding itself drawn deeper into the conflict.
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