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UK and France convene military planners to advance multinational mission to re-open the Strait of Hormuz.
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Over 30 nations expected to attend the conference at UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters in North London.
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Military planners will turn diplomatic consensus into a detailed military plan for the Strait when hostilities end.
Military planners from over 30 nations will today (Wednesday 22 April) advance detailed planning to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in a two-day UK-hosted conference.
The planning talks will take place at the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, North London.
The work is part of the UK and French leadership of a multinational coalition to reopen the Strait. The sessions will advance military plans to reopen the Strait, as soon as conditions permit, following a sustainable ceasefire agreement.
The planning sessions build on the progress made last week by the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanual Macron at an international summit of 51 countries in Paris.
At the Summit, they called for the unconditional, unrestricted, and immediate re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz and confirmed the establishment of an independent and strictly defensive multinational mission to protect merchant vessels, reassure commercial shipping operators and conduct mine clearance operations.
Speaking ahead of the conference, the UK Defence Secretary John Healey MP, said
Today’s multinational planning conference matters. The task, today and tomorrow, is to translate the diplomatic consensus into a joint plan to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Strait and support a lasting ceasefire. I am confident that, over the next two days, real progress can be made.
International trade, energy security and the stability of the global economy depend on freedom of navigation. By building on our common purpose, strengthening multinational coordination and planning for effective collective action, we can help reopen the Strait, stabilise the global economy and protect our people.
On behalf of people in Britain and internationally whose security and prosperity depend on their success, we are grateful to the planners for their urgency and expertise. We look forward to the outcome of this work.
The UK and France are working to ensure that the military plan involves as many partners as possible and brings the expertise of each nation together in support of our shared interests.
The planning conference will take place over two-days, allowing for detailed discussions on military capabilities, command and control, and how military forces can deploy to the region.
These talks come as Iran continues its effective illegal closure of the critical international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. The closure has driven up global energy prices, disrupted supply chains, and pushed up costs for households and businesses in the UK and around the world.