Richard Wheeler,political reporterand
Jack Fenwick,political correspondent
The foreign secretary has called for the Strait of Hormuz to be fully reopened after ships in the Gulf were warned by the Iranian navy that those without permission to pass through faced attack.
Yvette Cooper told the BBC there should be no tolls or restrictions on the critical shipping route, as ships face uncertainty on possibly making payments to Iran to secure safe passage.
She also called for Lebanon to be “urgently included” in the US and Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Iran.
Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Abu Dhabi on the second day of his trip to the Gulf amid signs the ceasefire agreement is coming under strain.
On Wednesday night, Sir Keir also met the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who agreed on the need for a lasting peace.
A fifth of the world’s energy shipments usually transits through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the threat of Iranian attacks in retaliation to a bombing campaign by the US and Israel.
The conflict has caused the price of crude oil to spike, with sharp increases in petrol and diesel costs, leading to concerns about the cost of living in countries across the world.
Cooper, who will deliver her annual speech on UK foreign policy priorities on Thursday evening, said no country should be able to “hijack” international shipping routes “in the way that Iran has”.
She told BBC Breakfast: “That’s why it’s so important that we have this international cooperation to keep up the pressure to get the Strait fully open – not to have tolls, not to have restrictions, but to get that fully reopened again.”
She said Gulf countries have been “very clear about the damage tolls would do” to international trading routes.
Cooper also said in “many of the conversations” she has had with the US administration “they have also said how damaging that they think this would be”.
Ministers accept the real decisions lie in the hands of the US and Israel – and the foreign secretary has urged them to include Lebanon in the ceasefire deal.
Cooper said she was “extremely concerned about the escalation of Israeli strikes” on Wednesday, adding: “We want to see Lebanon urgently included as part of the ceasefire, building on the ceasefire that’s been announced, we want to see an end to the hostilities in Lebanon.”
Pakistan – which acted as an intermediary in the ceasefire talks – and Iran said the deal covered Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iranian proxy Hezbollah.
But Israel and the US have said the two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon.
The foreign secretary will also visit the International Maritime Organization on Thursday in a show of support for the organisation’s efforts to help ships and seafarers currently trapped in the waterway.
The US has repeatedly accused allies of not doing enough to secure the shipping route or to support its war effort, leaving the UK and other nations weighing how to contribute to securing the critical waterway without becoming involved in the wider war.
Iran has attacked several vessels in response to the war waged against it by the US and Israel, disrupting energy exports and sending global fuel prices soaring.
Prior to the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday, Trump said it was for other nations to “build up some delayed courage” and reopen the route.