Iran holding world’s economy ‘hostage’ with Strait of Hormuz closure – Cooper

Iran “cannot hold the global economy hostage”, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said as she met counterparts including Marco Rubio from the US to discuss the Middle East crisis.

The foreign ministers from the G7 group of leading democracies were meeting after Donald Trump again delayed his threat of “energy plant destruction” in Iran over its effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US president insisted talks with Iran “are going very well” despite little information being known about who the US is in discussions with.

Speaking at the G7 meeting in Vaux-de-Cernay, France, Ms Cooper said: “We will of course be discussing the conflict in the Middle East, where we want to see a swift resolution that reaches regional stability and security and opens the Strait of Hormuz.”

The strait is a vital global supply route for oil and gas and Iran’s selective blockade has pushed up prices around the world.

Ms Cooper said: “Iran cannot be able to just hold the the global economy hostage as a result of a strait which is about international shipping routes and the freedom of navigation that has been so strongly supported at the United Nations, but also by countries across the world.”

She added that she was “deeply concerned” about Russia’s co-operation with Iran as she sought to maintain pressure on President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine despite the crisis in the Gulf.

Ms Cooper said drones provided to Russia by Iran have been involved in strikes in Ukraine, “but we have also seen support from Russia provided to Iran in the Middle East conflict as well”.

Mr Trump earlier used his Truth Social platform to again push back a deadline for progress on the Strait of Hormuz until April 6.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he said.

The US-Israel bombing campaign against Iran has strained relations between Washington and its traditional allies, including the UK, with Mr Trump making a series of attacks against Sir Keir Starmer and belittling British naval capabilities.

The Prime Minister said Mr Trump’s criticism is an attempt to push him to change his stance on the Iran war but vowed not to “buckle”.

Sir Keir said he had “core values and principles” that were “irreducible” and would not waver on his insistence that Britain will not be dragged into the “wider” conflict beyond defensive action.

The US president said Sir Keir had made “a big mistake” and described British aircraft carriers as “toys”.

Asked whether Mr Trump’s repeated attacks had made him bristle, the Prime Minister told Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “I think I understand what’s happening, it’s to put pressure on me in different ways.

“But that pressure isn’t going to make me waver. It’s not going to make me abandon my principles or values, and that’s just the way I am.

“That is not new. That isn’t because of President Trump. I’ve got core values and principles I’ve held all my life, and they’re irreducible.”

He acknowledged there was “a clear difference of opinion” between himself and the president and there had been “hard decisions” over recent weeks, but insisted he still wanted a “good relationship”.

“My own view is that a lot of what is said and done has been to put pressure on me to change my mind, but I’m not going to do so, because I’m the British Prime Minister and I have to act in the British national interest, and I will always act in the British national interest,” Sir Keir said.

Speaking at a televised White House cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump lashed out again at Nato for doing “absolutely nothing” to help in the Middle East conflict, and also took aim at the UK’s aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

He said: “Now they all want to help. When they’re annihilated, the other side is annihilated, they said, ‘we’d love to send ships’.

“We had the UK say that ‘we’ll send’ – this is three weeks ago – ‘we’ll send our aircraft carriers’, which aren’t the best aircraft carriers, by the way. They’re toys compared to what we have.”