The West’s Paralysis in the Strait of Hormuz

Thirty countries have committed to reopen the Strait, but not to lead, schedule, or attack

Dozens of countries have now committed to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, but they still haven’t decided when, who would lead, and whether defensive operations include counter-attacks on the capabilities that Iran uses to close the Strait.

Under-reported is the fact that the US still expects Britain to lead, while the British government continues to deny it is even under attack.

The need to re-open the Strait is urgent. Since the US and Israel started striking Iran on 28 February, oil prices jumped from $71 per barrel to a peak of $120 (on Wednesday of the second week, 11 March, when Iran struck five tankers in the Strait). In the fifth week of war, oil prices hovered around $105. They are expected to climb beyond $120 by a sixth week of war. Almost every economic authority agrees that if the price stays that high for weeks, recession is inevitable. The International Monetary Fund warns of a “global, yet asymmetric shock” — “all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth.”

Re-opening the Strait is most urgent for Britain, given Britain’s over-exposure to the global price of energy (given its net-zero extremism).

While the US doesn’t depend on the Strait for energy imports, global inflation makes Donald Trump’s economy look as bad as Joe Biden’s. On Tuesday, average gasoline prices at the pump in the US hit $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022.

The US government is calling out Britain most. For decades, Britain took a leading role within NATO for the security of the waters from Greenland to North-West Europe, and contributed secondarily to freedom of navigation around the Middle East.

For 50 years, a British minesweeper was kept on rotation in the Middle East. Just before the current war, the government recalled its regional minesweeper for maintenance, without preparing any replacement.

Why not now?

At the end of the second week of war (14 March), Donald Trump called on allies, Britain most of all, to help to re-open the Strait militarily. On Sunday, he and Starmer spoke by telephone. Canada’s premier (Mark Carney) visited. Everybody agreed that the Strait should be reopened, but not how. On Monday, Trump complained to journalists of Starmer’s attitude.

On that same Monday (the start of the third week, i.e., 16 March), Starmer called a press conference to reject the US call to re-open the Strait militarily, in favor of a vague diplomatic-humanitarian “collective plan.”

Yet, two days later, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada indicated they would help to re-open the Strait militarily after all, although not until the war stops.

Within days, more than 30 countries joined that commitment.

The trouble is, no country is leading or scheduling any re-opening, or allowing for any counter-attacking.