Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is touring broadcast studios with UK demands for the Strait of Hormuz. Namely “not to have tolls, not to have restrictions, but to get that fully re-opened”…
Cooper said it was a priority for Starmer on his three-day trip:
“One of the crucial things that the prime minister will be talking to Gulf partners about is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz which is crucial for our Gulf partners. It is their trading route but it’s also vital for the global economy and no country should be able to hijack those international shipping transit routes in the way that Iran has. That’s why it’s so important we have this international cooperation to keep up the pressure to get the strait fully open. Not to have tolls, not to have restrictions, but to get that fully reopened.”
This runs counter to some statements from Trump and the intentions of the Iranian regime to charge something like $1 per barrel passing through the strait. That would be a disaster…
On the Today Programme Cooper congratulated her own government for what she said was acting early in the conflict: “We pre-deployed the F-35s.” No indication on whether British forces will be deployed to open the Strait of Hormuz…
Cooper additionally refused to say when the now-delayed Defence Investment Plan would come in, saying: “investment has already been allocated… we want to go further in future.” Labour incredibly is still refusing to get real on defence…
