The British foreign minister used Thursday, April 2nd to stress the “urgent need” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and slammed Iran’s “recklessness”—as she convened a meeting of some 40 countries to try and decide the future of the vital shipping route.
Yvette Cooper said Iran’s blockading of the waterway was “hitting our global economic security” as she kicked off a virtual meeting of international allies.
A total of 37 countries have signed a statement, first published last month, expressing “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through” the shipping lane. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands are among those to have signed it. Cooper’s opening remarks stated
We have seen Iran hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage.
This statement was made public, broadcast before the rest of the meeting took place behind closed doors.
Cooper said the discussions would focus on the “collective mobilisation of our full range of diplomatic and economic tools and pressures” to “enable a safe and sustained opening of the Strait.”
Whether this ‘alliance’ will prove any more effective than the Ukraine-focused ‘Coalition of the Willing’ remains to be seen.
