UK promises jets, drones and warship for Strait of Hormuz defence mission

The UK has said it will contribute drones, fighter jets and a warship to a joint mission aimed at safeguarding shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Defence minister John Healey announced the package at a virtual summit of defence ministers on Tuesday. It includes autonomous systems to detect and clear naval mines, drone boats and Typhoon jets for air patrols. More than 40 other nations are involved in the mission, which Healey said would begin when conditions allow. For months Iran has been controlling the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's busiest oil shipping channels - in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks. The US, for its part, has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports to exert pressure on Tehran to agree to its terms - a move that has infuriated Iran. Some 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas uses the crucial waterway, whose blockage has sent prices soaring globally. A ceasefire has been in place between the US and Iran since April, but US President Donald Trump has said it is on "massive life support". Both sides have accused the other of launching attacks in the strait. More than 1,000 British personnel are already deployed in the region as part of existing defensive operations, including counter-drone teams and fast jet squadrons, the ministry said. The Ministry of Defence said the multinational mission - which was announced last month by the UK and France - is strictly defensive and aimed at restoring confidence for commercial shipping along the Strait of Hormuz. It said the contribution is backed by £115m in new funding for mine-hunting drones and counter-drone systems. "With our allies, this multinational mission will be defensive, independent, and credible," Healey said in a statement. Under the plan, HMS Dragon - the air defence destroyer that is already on its way to the Middle East - will also "be ready for any mission" to secure the strait, the MoD said. It added that another British ship, the RFA Lyme Bay, continues to be upgraded with new equipment, if required for operations in the strait. EPA Britain's Secretary of State for Defence John Healey arrives at 10 Downing Street for a cabinet meeting, EPA Healey said the mission would "strengthen the confidence of commercial shipping and reduce the burden of the conflict on people at home" The announcement comes as Healey offered his support to Sir Keir Starmer, as dozens of Labour MPs called on the prime minister to resign. In a post on X, Healey said Sir Keir was leading the country through "conflicts and looming global crises". "More instability is not in Britain's interest. Our full focus now must be on dealing with immediate economic & security challenges," he added. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Sir Keir did not discuss the calls for him to step aside, but instead focused on the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. A Downing Street spokesperson said ministers "agreed that number one priority remains getting the Strait of Hormuz open again, so that international shipping can resume". Sir Keir's position on the conflict has been that the UK will not be "dragged" into it. He has previously said the UK would not support a US blockade of Iranian ports, which is still in place.

Wait until you find out that you have to pay for that as well :D Edit: On the upside you can use newspaper as fire starter or to dry your boots inside. Go paper!

You do have to buy paper mews though

The BBC has no paywall?

You have to pay for things. If you don't pay for news, a billionaire pays for it and gives what he wants you to see for free.

https://www.newscaststudio.com/2025/06/26/bbc-erects-website-paywall-for-u-s-users/

I got so pissed off about Amazon or Netflix about something I want to watch and they wanted me to pay $70 for it or $1.99 an episode so I went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of DVDs and it's been working really well actually I kind of enjoy watching DVDs again to see old movies I never would have thought to look up

It's only wasn't a paywall because it was being paid by the British tax payer

That you pay for? 😂

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Great idea with the paper news tbh

Unfortunately they’re forcing everyone’s hands. The world needs the strait open

Think most of the British toys are heading north to counter Russian presence in the Arctic - which is what they should be doing tbh.

We're mainly helping ourselves.

Also, after they said they wouldn’t.

It's starting to affect us more directly now. It's right to get involved for our own interests. How Dump perceives this move is irrelevant. This is for us.

UK jumping in is disappointing. Too much internal pressure? I thought I read France is going in as well. Trump shits the bed, everyone else has to clean it up

The strait of Hormuz is international waters, and Iran has unjustly taken sovereignty over it. I wouldn't call Israeli or US operations to open the strait defensive considering they recently started a war with Iran, but for other countries who are effected it could certainly be called a defense of international interests.

No he hasn't. This is a post war clean up operation. Edit: my apologies, the other 39 nations, including France, are all getting involved in the war as a means of distracting the British public from Kier Starmers troubles.

It'll be fine...

Nah don't worry all these cocksuckers talk about sending assets long after a ceasefire has been solidified and only then send maybe a symbolic amount since their power projection is a joke nowadays

We’re all fucked at this point. Maybe they’re just hoping this gets things turned around, but likely not because literally everything Trump does is absolute dog shit .

Opening up the hormuz strait doesn't necessarily equate to supporting Trump. Countries all over the world are struggling because of this.

Honestly, I'd say these people *have* left the Trump train; it's the 'US Empire' train that they are commited to never leaving, at least economically. Trump they just see as 'someone they have to deal with for now' and don't care about the moral consequences. What people tend to confuse with all the US dickriding in the west is that our leaders tend to align with the 'left' of neocolonial violence. They don't actually care about the violence, which they nearly always implicitly support; but they much prefer the democrat version, where there is at least the semblance of cover. What we haven't seen, almost universally, is literally any condemnation of the actions of the US. We get some for Israel, but it is completely divorced from any action. The UK in particular is so obvious with Starmer not condemning the US/Israeli assault at all when it is probably one of the most blatant violations of the UN charter ever. And this is just like he ignores the US role in Gaza, maintains a stance that the government is unable to determine the legality of Israel's military actions so we don't upset the permanent UK/Israel agreements; ignores the hundreds of people in boats murdered extrajudically by the US in the Carribbean; ignores the imperial assault on Venezuala; ignores the US openly manipulating the democracies of several foreign states; ignores the relevance of the fact that we are still part of the production chain for the Tomahawk missiles that the US fired at that school in Minab, etc... It's actually worrying how many people seem to have bought the insane "not involved" argument about the UK and the Iran war too. We had half the US B1B bomber fleet bombing Iran from RAF Fairford 24/7; while US bases in the region were being destroyed, we let them use Diego Garcia, which is our of their missile range; we were risking UK lives to shoot down projectiles mainly headed at US bases in the gulf; we had UK troops at these US bases, US troops on our bases, both of which we never removed; and we even maintained intelligence sharing during their illegal war, with evidence suggesting we used our military satellite infrastructure for that end—but we're not involved apparently... And Starmer is specifically doing things like this to placate the US. There is no security crisis in the strait of Hormuz: there is a state responding to being attacked without provocation in a manner it believes to be proportional. Given the assault the US has unleashed, I don't think this is a stretch. The ICJ in 1996 could not rule out even nuclear weapons being a proportional response to a true existential threat to a state: exactly what Trump has threatened. The only situation where shipping needs protected is one where Iran still sees closing the strait as a means to deter US and Israeli aggression. Instead of focusing on dealing with that threat, the PM has decided to endorse the Trump framing and offer both material and rhetorical support to his surmation of this situation as Iran simply being unreasonable around a global shipping lane in its waters. There is literally no way for him to positively contribute to this crisis when he is backing the clear aggressors like this. Every state backing the US, even rhetorically, knows exactly what they're doing here.

Naaah, it'll be fine... ...

lol the strait was open just fine a few months ago, so is it really Iran stirring up all of this or that shit stain in the WH