Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps his Department is taking to protect freedom of navigation for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office regularly encourages partners to use all channels to press Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz fully, safely and lawfully, reduce escalation risk, restore negotiations and preserve space for a durable settlement.

On 24 September, the Foreign Secretary joined a Bahrain-led UN Security Council press stakeout in New York and endorsed the delivered statement alongside around 80 partners to support these principles. The Prime Minister also discussed global shipping and reopening the Strait of Hormuz with President Trump on 23 September.

I regularly discuss these issues with Gulf and other regional counterparts, including on my recent visit to Oman.