The UK is hosting on Thursday a virtual meeting of senior officials from three dozen countries — with the notable exception of the United States — to discuss ways and measures to seek to re-open the Strait of Hormuz.
The meeting, which will be chaired by the UK’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, “will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities,” the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
The meeting is taking place as countries attempt to form coalitions and task forces to seek diplomatic and other ways, as U.S. President Donald Trump basically told the rest of the world to go and re-open the Strait of Hormuz if the countries want the oil and gas that transits through it.
The U.S. has distanced itself from attempts to re-open the chokepoint, with President Trump telling the nation in last night’s address “the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Straight must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it.”
“We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” President Trump said.
Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz was open — unconditionally — to all vessel traffic and saw 20% of daily global oil and LNG supplies passing through it.
Since the war began, traffic at the most critical oil chokepoint slowed to a trickle of tankers at Iran’s discretion and headed mostly to China, India, and other countries in Asia.
Asian energy buyers, including India, Pakistan, and China, are negotiating directly with Iran to ensure safe passage of their tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. But such an approach is not sustainable for a long period of time.
So countries in Asia, and Europe, are forming alliances to seek pathways to re-opening the Strait.
France and Japan on Wednesday agreed to coordinate closely in pushing for an end to the war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the Gulf producers directly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has called on the United Nations to authorize a range of measures, including force, to “ensure the safe and secure navigation and navigational rights and freedoms in and around the Strait of Hormuz.”
The world must act together to protect the free flow of energy and avoid an economic collapse as Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz represent “global economic extortion,” Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and managing director and Group CEO at Abu Dhabi’s national oil firm ADNOC, wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- WTI Jumps 51% in a Month on Iran War Supply Shock
- India Waives Import Tax on Petrochemicals as War Roils Supply Chains
- Australia Considers Emergency Powers to Protect Domestic Gas Supply
