Starmer could send drones to Middle East in bid to smash Iran oil blockade after Trump asks for help in Hormuz
Tehran is currently blockading the narrow sea passage out of the Persian Gulf, stemming the flow from the Middle East and pushing up energy prices across the globe.
Sir Keir Starmer is considering sending minehunting drones to unblock Iran’s stranglehold over a key oil shipping route, as Donald Trump called for allied warships to protect tankers in the region.
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Tehran is currently blockading the narrow sea passage out of the Persian Gulf, stemming the flow from the Middle East and pushing up energy prices across the globe.
There have also been growing concerns that Iran has starting placing sea mines in the strait to frustrate shipping.
Military chiefs are now considering the deployment of minehunting drones to deal with that threat, it is understood.
The minehunting drones could be deployed from the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, which is currently in the Middle East, according to The Sunday Times.
It is not known how many drones are in service and which could be deployed, the newspaper said.
Interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, could also be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones, according to The Sundy Telegraph.
Read more: Trump says US 'not ready' to make deal with Iran to end war as 'terms aren't good enough yet'
That option is understood to be at a much earlier stage of consideration.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, vowed to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz as a means of pressuring the US in his first public statement this week.
On Saturday, the US president urged the UK and other nations to send naval vessels to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.
In an appeal to nations affected by the price spikes on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said: “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated.
“In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline and continually shooting Iranian boats and ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
The Ministry of Defence responded by saying “a range of options” were being considered to secure shipping through the strait, where some 20% of the world’s oil ordinarily passes through each day.
Numerous oil tankers have come under fire as they attempted to pass through since the start of the conflict.
Mr Trump has threatened to “wipe out” Kharg Island, a vital part of Iran’s oil infrastructure, should Tehran not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He said the US has already “totally obliterated” a series of military targets on the island in recent strikes which Mr Trump described as “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East”.