Six major international powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, said Thursday they were ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz".
"We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning" the grouping -- which also includes Italy and the Netherlands -- said in a joint statement, as they condemned "in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf".
Photo: AFP
The declaration came as an effective Iranian blockade of the strait has paralysed commercial shipping through the crucial maritime chokepoint, which in peacetime sees a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass through it.
The war, which erupted on February 28 when the US and Israel began bombing Iran, has led Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the Gulf region, with 23 commercial vessels, including 10 tankers, reporting having been attacked or incidents.
The situation has left around 20,000 seafarers stranded on approximately 3,200 vessels west of the strait, according to the International Maritime Organization.
"We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict," the allies' joint statement said.
"We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping," it added.
"Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
"The effects of Iran's actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable."
US President Donald Trump has urged other world powers, and NATO, to help reopen the Hormuz Strait to commercial shipping, but they have rebuffed his call in the short-term while insisting they were open to discussions and planning.
"The level of threat is such that I don't see many nations being willing to put warships into the middle of that threat right now," a UK defence official told reporters at a briefing Wednesday.
"We're working closely with allies and partners in terms of what we might be able to do and what we can offer, as and when the situation allows," he added.
The defence official noted London has sent a "small number" of additional military "planners" to US Central Command (CENTCOM) to "help with the planning and option development for... whatever comes next in the Strait of Hormuz might look like".
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS