Royal Navy has few mine-hunting ships to deploy as world leaders discuss how to safeguard shipping
The UK will co-host an international summit of more than 40 nations this week to discuss how to safeguard shipping through the strait of Hormuz when the Iran conflict finally comes to an end.
Keir Starmer has said the continuing closure of the waterway is “deeply damaging” and that getting global shipping moving is crucial to ease cost of living pressures.
Iran is believed to have laid at least a dozen mines to prevent oil tankers and other vessels from passing through the strait, through which about 20% of global oil flows.
But Tehran has thousands of naval mines in its arsenal, and while the US bombing campaign may have destroyed much of Iran’s naval capacity, mines can be dropped from relatively small boats.
