Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Europe will never patrol the Strait of Hormuz with a war on
A new government in London and suddenly there is an expectation rising in Washington that the UK, France and other European countries will send their navies to help patrol the Strait of Hormuz and keep the Iranians out. It isn't going to happen. Wes Streeting, the government minister translated from Health to Defence, seems keen keen to muster up some warsips to ride alongside the US Navy as a signal to Iran that the western world is now united against them. I'm not sure how this enthusiasm has suddenly emerged because I just don't see it happening. The UK position has always been that naval help is available for the Strait of Hormuz but not, repeat not, when the war is still uhderway. Well, as we see almost every day, the war IS still on and ships in the strait are being fired at. So any warships from Europe in the Gulf would become targets. While Trump would be delighted if his European allies helped out - and that would help with dodgy relations between the US and Nato as a whole - it's never going to take off. Did Andy Burnham say to Trump in his phone call that he would send the Royal Navy to the Strait of Hormuz? Did Streeting say the same to Pete Hegseth, his counterpart in America, that the Royal Navy was ready and willing? If they did, then they did so without the backing of any of the other European partners who will continue to say non, non, non, nein, nein, nein.
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