UK Gathers Countries for Hormuz Plans  04/02 06:27

   Foreign ministers from almost three dozen countries will meet Thursday in an 
effort to exert diplomatic and political pressure to reopen the Strait of 
Hormuz, a vital shipping route that has been choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war 
against Iran.

   LONDON (AP) -- Foreign ministers from almost three dozen countries will meet 
Thursday in an effort to exert diplomatic and political pressure to reopen the 
Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that has been choked off by the 
U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

   The U.S. is not among the countries attending Thursday's meeting, which 
comes after President Donald Trump made clear that he thinks securing the 
waterway, closed as a consequence of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, is not 
America's job. Trump has also disparaged America's European allies for failing 
to support the war and renewed his threats to pull the U.S. out of NATO.

   British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the virtual meeting chaired by 
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper "will assess all viable diplomatic and 
political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the 
safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital 
commodities."

   Iranian attacks on commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted 
nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest 
of the globe's oceans, shutting a critical path for the world's flow of oil and 
sending petroleum prices soaring.

   There have been 23 direct attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf since 
the war began on Feb. 28 and 11 crew members have been killed, according to 
Lloyd's List Intelligence, a shipping data firm.

   Traffic through the strait has slowed to a trickle, with remaining tanker 
traffic dominated by sanctions-evading tankers carrying Iranian oil, Lloyd's 
List Intelligence said in a briefing Thursday. It said a murky operation under 
which Iran vets who can pass continues to operate as Tehran maintains its 
chokehold over the key waterway.

   In a televised address on Wednesday night, Trump said countries that depend 
on oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz "must grab it and cherish it" -- 
because the U.S. would not.

   No country appears willing to try and open the strait by force while 
fighting rages and Iran can target vessels with anti-ship missiles, drones, 
attack craft and mines. But Starmer said Wednesday that military planners from 
an unspecified number of countries will meet soon to work on how to ensure 
security for shipping "after the fighting has stopped."

   In the meantime, 35 countries including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, 
Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates have signed a statement demanding 
Iran stop its attempts to block the strait and pledging to "contribute to 
appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage" through the waterway.

   Thursday's meeting is considered a first step, to be followed by 
"working-level meetings" of officials to hammer out details.

   Starmer said resuming shipping "will not be easy," and will require "a 
united front of military strength and diplomatic activity" alongside 
partnership with the maritime industry.

   The international effort idea has echoes of the international "coalition of 
the willing" that has been assembled, led by the U.K. and France, to underpin 
Ukraine's security after a future ceasefire in that war. The coalition is, in 
part, an attempt to demonstrate to the Trump administration that Europe is 
stepping up to do more for its own security.

   The urgency of stronger continental defenses has been reinforced by Trump's 
renewed suggestion that the U.S. could leave NATO. He said Wednesday that the 
military alliance had "treated us very badly."

   David B. Roberts, reader in Middle East Security Studies at King's College 
London, said international coalition-building efforts are "definitely linked to 
the wider Trumpian antagonism toward NATO, that other members of NATO are not 
pulling their weight.

   "Without a doubt, this is Britain and France, notably, trying to lead the 
way, to very visibly show a certain sort of utility" to the Trump 
administration.

   "There's also the very pragmatic reality that America is an oil exporter," 
he added. "The immediate pressures about the fallout of the of the energy 
blockage in the Gulf, they fall on Europe and of course Asia, far more than 
America."