UK: Military planners meet on Street of Hormuz mission

Britain and France are gathering military planners from about 30 countries to flesh out details of a mission to provide security in the Strait of Hormuz — if and when the key shipping route reopens.

Britain’s Defence Ministry said the two-day meeting at a UK command-and-control centre in London aims to “turn diplomatic consensus into a detailed military plan”.

The plan is for an international mission to protect merchant vessels, clear mines and provide reassurance, and is dependent on a “sustainable” ceasefire being reached in the US-Israeli war with Iran. Countries, including France and the UK, have pledged to send ships and mine-clearing drones.

Despite scepticism that the plan will ever be put into action, British Defence Secretary John Healey said on Wednesday he is “confident that, over the next two days, real progress can be made”.