The UK is convening military planners and international partners to explore ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Thursday.
A virtual meeting of more than 40 countries, hosted by the UK, has begun to discuss the strait's weeks-long closure.
The discussions aim to coordinate diplomatic, economic, and military responses to ensure the safe and sustained reopening of the strategic Gulf waterway.
At the meeting's start, Sky News reported that Cooper said military planners are meeting to explore how to "marshal our collective defensive military capabilities, including looking at issues such as de-mining or reassurance once the (Mideast) conflict eases."
She stressed that the meeting would focus on diplomatic and international planning measures, including "collective mobilization of our full range of diplomatic and economic tools and pressures, reassurance work with industry, insurers, and energy markets, and also action to guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and effective coordination that we need across the world to enable a safe and sustained opening of the Strait."
Cooper warned that Iran's actions are disrupting global trade.
"We have seen Iran hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage. This is hitting the trading routes for Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi, Oman, Iraq, but that means liquid natural gas for Asia, fertilizer for Africa, and jet fuel for the world," she said.
"It is not just hitting mortgage rates and petrol prices and the cost of living here in the UK and in many different countries across the world; it is hitting our global economic security," she added.
Following the summit, the UK government released an official statement.
It said that the Strait of Hormuz has become the focus of escalating international concern, adding: "Iran is trying to hold the global economy hostage in the Strait of Hormuz. They must not prevail."
It added that partners had called for the "immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait" and urged Iran to respect "the fundamental principles of freedom of navigation and the law of the sea."
The statement outlined several coordinated responses under discussion, including increased diplomatic pressure through the UN to demand "unimpeded transit passage" and to "comprehensively reject the imposition of tolls" on vessels.
Further measures could include sanctions, with partners exploring "coordinated economic and political measures … if the Strait remains closed," it noted.
It also stressed cooperation with the International Maritime Organization to "secure the release of thousands of ships and sailors trapped" in the waterway.
The region has been on alert since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,340 people to date, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, as well as Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.
