UK 'not supporting' U.S. Iran blockade as France's Macron confirms 'multinational' talks on the Stra

[Right_in_Virginia]

UK 'not supporting' U.S. Iran blockade as France's Macron confirms 'multinational' talks on the Strait of Hormuz
CNBC, Apr 13, 2026

The U.K. is "not supporting" the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday, insisting that the country would not get "dragged in" to the Iran war.

It came as President Emmanuel Macron confirmed France and the U.K. would, in the coming days, co-host a conference aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Macron has not explicitly ruled out France's involvement in the U.S. blockade but said the planned conference would create a "peaceful multinational" and "strictly defensive" mission, separate from the belligerents.

Britain's Starmer told BBC's Radio 5 Live on Monday: "We're not supporting the blockade, and all of the marshalling – diplomatically, politically and [in terms of] capability – we do have mine-sweeping capability, I won't go into operational matters, but we do have that capability – that's all focused, from our point of view, on getting the Strait fully open."

"What we've been doing over the last few weeks – and this was part of what I was discussing with the Gulf states last week – is bringing countries together to keep the strait open, not shut."

Starmer's comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that other countries would help the U.S. implement its blockade, due to start at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, on vessels entering or exiting Iranian ports.


https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/04/13/uk-us-blockade-on-iranian-ports-iran-war-nato-.html

[Free Vulcan]

I tire of Europe's moral posturing just to try to get one up on Trump while Iran has missiles that can hit their countries and are more than halfway to a nuke.

[mountaineer]

Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
Crucially important distinction.
We are not shutting down the Straits of Hormuz to all traffic as originally widely reported.  Instead, we are clearing the Straits of mines and opening them to all comers, except for access into and out of Iran's ports.
This helps the whole world, with two exceptions:

1. Iran.
2. China.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
8:42 PM · Apr 12, 2026

[American Girl]

Excerpt:
President Trump just executed a masterstroke of maximum pressure after marathon peace talks in Islamabad collapsed with no agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

Following Vice President JD Vance’s 21-hour negotiating session that secured progress on most issues but failed on the critical uranium enrichment and nuclear weapons front, Trump took decisive action.



Supposedly the ships that paid a toll are subject to the blockcade as well.... Pretty sure I heard Trump say that...

https://redstatenation.com/breaking-centcom-begins-naval-blockade-in-the-strait-of-hormuz-this-morning-here-are-the-rules-and-it-looks-like-game-over-for-the-regime/

[bilo]

Cynical Publius
@CynicalPublius
Crucially important distinction.
We are not shutting down the Straits of Hormuz to all traffic as originally widely reported.  Instead, we are clearing the Straits of mines and opening them to all comers, except for access into and out of Iran's ports.
This helps the whole world, with two exceptions:

1. Iran.
2. China.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
8:42 PM · Apr 12, 2026

In addition to the loss of revenue Iran will suffer permanent loss of production from older wells when they have to "temporarily" cap them because water will flow into the wells. The pressure on the radicals in Iran will be extreme within a few weeks.

Thank you Pres. Trump!

[libertybele]

The U.K. has been overrun by Muslims and France has been overrun by Muslims, so it should come as no surprise that they won't help us.  They can't even help themselves.  Very sad.

The UK and France in talks with Iran is very troubling...this is going to become problematic.