London could host a multi-national security conference on how to ensure safe passage for commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, say defence sources.
The summit, which would be expected to be attended by countries from the Gulf, Europe and the US, would aim to inject “momentum” into plans for a maritime mission to get oil tankers moving again through the key strait.
It has been effectively closed by Iran by targeting more than a dozen ships since the start of Donald Trump’s war.
The blockade has triggered the biggest ever oil supply shock, fuelling petrol prices and other bills in the UK and other countries.
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to deploy Royal Navy warships for Trump’s plan for a maritime operation to re-open the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, with France, Germany, Australia and Japan among countries taking a similar stance.
However, the UK is working with allies, including the US, on how to get commercial vessels travelling through the strait once the war ends or at least significantly decreases.
Such a mission is likely to involve sharing intelligence with shipping firms so they can make informed decisions on the risk to any tanker which seeks to transit the strait, as well as possibly military escort vessels which could include maritime drones.
“I anticipate at some point in the near future there will be some kind of Strait of Hormuz security conference,” said a defence source.
“Details are yet to be agreed but we are very happy to see that hosted in the UK, whether that’s in Portsmouth or London, in order to build this coalition and develop momentum so that as soon as the conditions are right we are able to open a route safety through the Strait of Hormuz and provide that reassurance to merchant shipping.”
Some Indian, Chinese and Pakistani ships are already sailing through the strait, with the consent of Iran, showing there is a safe route despite Tehran’s threat to mine the waters.
Britain could deploy anti-mine maritime and underwater drones to safeguard the waterway.
With the war in its fourth week, British troops downed 14 drones launched in one night at an allied base in northern Iraq which has previously come under attack.
The number of drone and missile attacks unleashed by the Tehran regime and its militia allies had been falling in recent days.
However, this changed dramatically on Monday night.
“What we saw last night in a number of places was that step up again,” said a defence source.
“In Erbil where we have UK forces and operate the Rapid Sentry System, they shot down 14 one-way attack drones just in one night last night, hugely impressive action.
“That’s the largest number they have shot down in a single night.”
The RAF Regiment is understood to have played a key role in downing the drones.
Meanwhile, explosions were heard in Tel Aviv on Tuesday as Israel’s military reported waves of missiles fired from Iran.
The missiles triggered air raid sirens in parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv where blasts from interceptions were heard. In one attack, homes in northern Israel were damaged by falling debris following an interception. No deaths were reported.
The attacks follow Trump’s claim, disputed by Tehran, that the US and Iran are in talks to end the war.
Israel pounded Lebanon with more airstrikes overnight.
A strike on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital killed at least two people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The latest attacks came after the US president postponed the bombing of the Islamic Republic’s power plants and energy infrastructure because of what he described as productive talks with Iranian officials.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday that the US and Iran had held “very good and productive” conversations about a “complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East”.
As a result, Trump said he was postponing for five days a plan to hit Iran’s power plants, which he had threatened if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s unexpected intervention sent share prices higher and oil prices sharply lower to below $100 (£75) a barrel, with allegations of insider trading said to have made some investors millions.
The market changes were in jeopardy on Tuesday, however, after Iran’s powerful Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who an Israeli official said was the interlocutor in the talks on the Iranian side, said no negotiations had taken place.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they were launching fresh attacks on US targets, and described Trump’s words as “psychological operations” that were “worn out” and having no impact on Tehran’s fight.
But the US president said his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had been negotiating with Iran before the war, had held discussions with a top Iranian official.
“We have had very, very strong talks. We’ll see where they lead. We have major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement,” he said.
A European official said that while there had been no direct negotiations between the two nations, Egypt, Pakistan and Gulf states were relaying messages.
There was talk that a meeting could take place between delegations from the US and Iran within days, possibly in Pakistan.
