British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain will not be drawn into a wider war with Iran and he is “working with allies” on a viable plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran’s effective closure of the waterway.
British PM Sir Keir Starmer while addressing a press conference at a Downing Street said that he wanted to see the Middle East conflict brought to an end “as quickly as possible”.
He refused to accede to Donald Trump’s demands that he send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping lane which has been effectively blockaded by Iran.
The US president warned that NATO allies faced a “very bad” future unless they agreed to help him restore use of the strait by force.
Sir Keir said: “While taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war”. “I want to see an end to this war as quickly as possible because the longer it goes on, the more dangerous the situation becomes and the worse it is for the cost of living back here at home.”
Asked whether he would send a warship to the Gulf, Sir Keir said he had not yet decided, adding: “We are looking through the options. It’s a discussion. We’re not at the point of decisions yet.”
He added that the US war effort had “massively weakened the military capability of the abhorrent regime in Iran”. “The question is: what comes next?” he told the press conference, in which he also announced £53m of emergency support for households with heating oil.
Sir Keir went on: “When the fighting stops, we are going to need some sort of negotiated agreement to constrain the threat posed by Iran, to limit their ability to rebuild their nuclear programme to pose a ballistic missile threat and arm their proxy militias, and limit the threat they can pose to global shipping.”
He criticised Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, for arguing two weeks ago that Britain should have, in his own words, “rushed headlong into this war”.
“That is not leading, it’s following. My leadership is about standing firm for the British interest no matter what the pressure. I believe time will show we have had the right approach,” he added.