Iranian closure of strait of Hormuz would be monumental act of self-harm, says Lammy

David Lammy called on Iranian leaders to negotiate with the US ‘seriously and immediately’. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

Any Iranian move to close the strait of Hormuz waterway would be an act of monumental self-harm, said David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, as he continued to refuse to endorse the Israeli and American strikes on Iran, or lay out the UK view of their lawfulness.

Lammy said there was no need for the British government to say if the strikes were legal since the UK was not involved in the action and had not been asked by the US to take part, or to allow the US to use the UK’s Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean to target Iran.