The British Royal Navy is preparing to take a leading role in potential coalition operations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report Tuesday by The Times.
It said British defense officials are considering plans to deploy a Royal Navy vessel or a leased commercial ship to serve as a mother-ship for autonomous, uncrewed systems designed to detect and remove naval mines in the strategic waterway.
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The initiative would form part of a broader multinational effort involving allies, including the USA and France, to ensure safe passage for commercial shipping through the strait, one of the world’s most critical transit routes.
Officials cited by The Times said the operation could unfold in multiple phases.
The initial stage would focus on mine-hunting using advanced autonomous systems launched from the mother ship.
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A second phase could see the deployment of uncrewed surface vessels alongside the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers, or solely the destroyers, to protect tankers transiting the area.
We have world leading capabilities in terms of autonomous mine hunting, as well as fantastic destroyer capability with our Type 45’s, and also the development of hybrid navy concept, which provides us with opportunities to avoid putting people into harm’s way to help secure the strait.
UK defense officials believe naval mines have been laid in the strait, although there remains “a clear path” as Indian, Pakistani, and Chinese ships have continued to transit the waterway.
![British warship HMS Albion in Tripoli, Libya [@MFetouri/Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Fd6BxkUWQAAe-H2-e1664966058773-1.jpeg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
The regional escalation in the Middle East has continued since the USA and Israel launched a joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28, so far killing more than 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with repeated drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.
The Strait of Hormuz has also been effectively throttled since early March. Around 20 million barrels of oil normally pass through it daily, and its disruption has driven up shipping costs and pushed global oil prices higher.
Middle East Monitor / ABC Flash Point News 2026.
Removing mines does not mean they are in contention to reopen the territorial strait.
The west removing mines presents an alternative route for oil tankers but the Straights are actually in Iranian territorial waters so it has every right to control them just like the UK and America patrol and rule their territorial waters .
Anybody violating UK waters is fired upon or boarded as is the case with America it cant be a case of “do as I say not as I do ” as that is dictatorial .
Royal Navy is delusional to think they can open the Strait of Hormuz.
Thats the problem the so called “Leaders ” in Westminster are entirely delusional still looking back to the days of the Empire .
With the pollution, sewage and carrion flowing into the Persian Gulf at an even faster than normal rate, cue to these wars, the waters are probably not very safe for humans to swim in, nor consume the its fauna. Add sunken UK battleships to the mix, then the matters become even worse. To help clean up the cesspool-like waters, it might become necessary to block the strait for many decades, to help promote an ecological balance. The oil exporters may need to find alternative routes.
Nice thought but not at all practical JJ -“round the Cape ” costs in time and money , Donald has a strategy though bomb/invade oil producing countries that gives short term time rather than a “Final Solution ” ( as per Herr Hitler ” ) . Shares/the Economies of countries go through the floor just look at Germany ditching Russian NATURAL gas ( no fracking ) that’s a real live example of destroying a country and its seen to be working now 100,000,s of layoffs /factories closing en masse . Makes Donald happy as that was his strategy all along… Read more »