UK says Iran holding world economy 'hostage' with Hormuz attacks

[0:00] the uk foreign secretary yvette cooper is hosting talks with a coalition of countries aimed at [0:05] reopening the strait of hormuz the diplomatic initiative is understood to include more than [0:10] 40 countries including france germany and some gulf nations but not the united states she began [0:17] by addressing the urgent need to reopen the strait the crucial waterway in the gulf in the last 24 [0:25] hours it says 25 vessels pass through the strait which is an international shipping route that [0:30] would normally see 150 vessels a day there have been over 25 attacks on vessels in the strait [0:38] and there are some 20 000 trapped seafarers on some 2 000 trapped ships we have seen iran hijack [0:47] an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage this is hitting the trading routes [0:55] bahrain qatar the uae saudi oman iraq but that means liquid natural gas for asia fertilizer for [1:03] africa and jet fuel for the world and that iranian recklessness towards countries who were never [1:09] involved in this conflict which we and 130 countries across the world have strongly condemned [1:16] at the united nations is not just hitting mortgage rates and petrol prices the cost of living here in [1:23] the uk and in many countries around the world but also in the world and in many countries around the [1:25] world and in many countries around the world it is hitting our global economic security our [1:31] security correspondent frank gardner spoke to me from outside the foreign office in london [1:36] where the foreign secretary is chairing that virtual meeting this war has been incredibly [1:42] confusing from the outset for not just the gulf states but for america's allies around the world [1:49] because they're unclear of exactly what the objectives were it was clear that it started [1:54] out being regime regime change and the [1:57] elimination of the same nuclear materials that trump said he had completely obliterated [2:03] so that sort of was contradictory from the beginning then there were these various ultimatums [2:09] which have been set and then dropped and i think when he was giving iran an ultimatum [2:15] to open the strait of hormuz or else that or else carried the threat of hitting things like [2:22] iran's power plants iran has said fine if you do that we will hit you back we will hit back [2:27] the current things that are happening the time is coming we will get ready and we will if we [2:32] want to get on the road to rome we will get to our next destination and that is to hits [2:38] the gulf states power plants which would be catastrophic for countries like the uee bahrain [2:44] etc and in fact some of those those power plants and desalination plants are already getting hit [2:50] now remember that it's an incredibly hot part of the planet where temperatures very soon are going [2:54] to be reaching up to around 40 degrees centigrade you need a lot of drinking water if you knock out the [2:57] dangerous element of this war. And trying to work out which way Donald Trump is blowing on this [3:02] is very hard indeed, because as one of my colleagues pointed out, Tom Bateman, [3:08] just over a month ago, the Strait of Hormuz wasn't blocked. And now it is. It's kind of [3:13] not completely blocked. It's got a chokehold on it by the Iranians. So this meeting behind here [3:19] is trying to find a diplomatic way through that. But Iran is going to be putting up pretty tough [3:25] terms, because they know they hold the cards here. They've got the geographical coastline [3:30] to threaten the Strait of Hormuz and decide who gets through it. [3:34] Yeah. And Frank, when President Trump said a couple of days ago to various countries, [3:40] you know, get your own oil, deal with Hormuz yourself, perhaps that was part of his [3:43] push to try to get other nations to work with the US on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. But [3:49] actually, they've taken him at his word, haven't they? They are going it on their own, [3:55] going it on their own. [3:55] Going alone without the US. I mean, what comes of this meeting? We simply don't know. But [4:00] do you think Iran might be tempted to try to work with this group of countries [4:04] from a strategic point of view if the US is excluded? [4:12] Yeah, I think it's quite possible. I mean, Iran has less of a beef with European countries than [4:17] obviously than it does with the US and Israel, who have gone to war with it twice in the space [4:22] of less than a year. But, you know, this is a really tricky situation here, because [4:28] you've got around 50,000 sailors, seamen, stranded on either side of the Strait of Hormuz, [4:35] both on the Gulf side and the Arabian Sea side, which is really tricky for them. They're starting [4:42] to run out of supplies, many of them. This meeting behind is supposed to be a diplomatic [4:47] initiative. Now, what Donald Trump wanted was for NATO countries to send naval forces to try [4:54] and force the Gulf open. Now, I've written about this on the BBC website. You can't do that. You [4:58] can't force that Strait of Hormuz to stay open, because Iran holds the cards, as I say. It's got [5:04] this rocky, crenelated coastline that's got plenty of hiding places for weapons like drones, missiles, [5:12] kamikaze attack boats, all sorts of things that they can threaten shipping. The only way you're [5:17] going to guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is by a negotiated settlement [5:22] with Iran. And that is partly what is being talked about in this building behind me, [5:28] virtually, with all these other ministers.