The United Kingdom and France will today convene talks to set up an international mission to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. Around 40 countries are expected to join the virtual meeting.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom and France will on Friday convene talks to set up an international mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Around 40 countries are expected to join the virtual meeting co-hosted by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n
The British Prime Minister\u2019s Office (PMO) said in a statement that the leaders \u201cwill focus on supporting the fragile ceasefire in the region and ensure shipping routes are reopened and secured through the Strait for the long term, complementing ongoing diplomatic efforts to reinforce peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
Ahead of the meeting, Starmer said planning was under way to deploy a combined military effort as soon as conditions allow. He stressed that the mission would be strictly defensive in nature.<\/p>\n
Follow our live coverage of the West Asia conflict Starmer will head to Paris to join the talks while participating countries will join virtually.<\/p>\n Starmer and Macron are holding talks to reopen the Strait along the lines of the \u2018 Preliminary consultations on such a force have already been held. Earlier this month, French Foreign Minister Jean\u2011Noel Barrot told Radio France Internationale that \u201cseveral dozen countries have already taken part in preparatory work\u201d to create the force.<\/p>\n While the UK and France have not joined American and Israeli attacks on Iran, Following the American\u2011Israeli offensive on February 28, Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off around 20-25 per cent of the world\u2019s oil and gas supply that flows through the waterway. The move plunged the world into an energy crisis, sending spot crude prices to a record high of $150 a barrel and futures to $119. With strikes on energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf, a further 10 per cent of oil and gas production was also taken offline.<\/p>\n STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n In an apparent bid to pressure Iran into accepting his terms, US President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to block all traffic to and from Iranian ports. While the purpose is to bring Iranian petroleum exports to zero and pressure the regime, the move has effectively halted all traffic through the Strait.<\/p>\n First Published: Home<\/a>World<\/a>Starmer & Macron to convene talks to reopen Strait of HormuzEnd of Article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Kingdom and France will today convene talks to set up an international mission to re-open the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[185041,59,172477,57,58,185038,185042,185039,50,185040,185036,56,185037,54,55],"class_list":["post-535427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-defensive-military-deployment","tag-gb","tag-global-energy-crisis","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-international-naval-coalition","tag-iran-blockade-oil","tag-keir-starmer-macron-talks","tag-news","tag-reopen-strait-of-hormuz","tag-strait-of-hormuz-crisis","tag-uk","tag-uk-france-mission","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhere<\/a><\/p>\n
\ncoalition of the willing<\/a>\u2019 that they previously propped to field a multinational force to enforce a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Macron has previously pitched
\ndeploying around a dozen warships to ensure freedom of navigation<\/a> but has ruled out escorting tankers before active hostilities end between the two sides.<\/p>\n
\ntheir warships and warplanes have been active since the beginning in intercepting Iranian missiles and drones<\/a> targeting their own and partners\u2019 bases in West Asia.<\/p>\n
\nApril 17, 2026, 07:44 IST<\/p>\n