UK's Starmer resists being drawn into wider Iran war, offers help on strait

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that Britain would not be drawn into a wider war with Iran but would work with allies on a "viable collective plan" to reopen the key Strait of Hormuz, though he acknowledged the task would not be simple.

United States President Donald Trump has heavily criticised Starmer for not initially supporting US-Israeli strikes on Tehran and said at the weekend that Britain, China, France, Japan and South Korea should send warships to the region to reopen the waterway.

Starmer told a press conference that reopening the strait was the only way to stabilise energy markets and that he was talking to allies in Europe, the Gulf and the US on a plan to secure freedom of navigation. He said the effort would not be a NATO-led mission.

Starmer also announced the first financial support for British households as a result of the conflict: a £53 million ($70.30m) package for the most vulnerable who rely on heating oil after prices spiked due to the crisis.

"Ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the [oil] market. That is not a simple task," Starmer told reporters.

"So we're working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impact."

About a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through the strait, a narrow passage of water between Iran and Oman. Tehran's effective closure of the Strait has pushed oil prices above $100 a barrel.

Starmer said that while Britain was "taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war".

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Asked what Britain could contribute after bringing its last minehunter in the region back to Britain this month, he said the country still had autonomous mine-hunting systems in the area.

He added Britain and its allies were examining what assets they could collectively contribute and wanted as many nations involved as possible.

Starmer said he spoke with Trump about the Strait on Sunday night and rejected suggestions that relations with Washington had been damaged by his handling of the conflict.

The two leaders spoke "in the way that you would expect between two allies and two leaders", Starmer said, adding he had a "good relationship" with the US president.