The United Kingdom is preparing a mine-sweeping mission to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as part of a wider Franco-British coalition that would move in once a peace deal ends the Iran war and commercial shipping returns.
Hundreds of British sailors are preparing aboard the RFA Lyme Bay off Gibraltar – the UK territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula – for a possible deployment to the Gulf, where the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted shipping and pushed up the cost of fuel, fertiliser and food.