This tiny center in a UK seaside town is the first place vessels under attack in the Persian Gulf call | CNN

Portsmouth, UK —

When a vessel under attack in the Strait of Hormuz calls for help, a black phone in the corner of an office rings. It’s nothing special – just a normal office phone, a relic of the 1990s.

But when a call comes in, the three people on shift at this small office just outside Portsmouth, on Britain’s south coast, suddenly become central to the current conflict in the Middle East.

For it’s home to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) – a Royal Navy-affiliated body that monitors shipping in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean.

And since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz more than two months ago in response to US-Israeli strikes on the country, the number of emergency calls the UKMTO receives has skyrocketed.