UK pushes for Hormuz reopening as it warns of ‘sleepwalking’ into crisis

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called for the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, warning 45 million more people could face acute food insecurity if Iran’s closure of the shipping lane continues into the middle of this year.

Cooper made the intervention on Tuesday (19 May) at the Global Partnerships Conference in London, which the UK is co-hosting with South Africa, British International Investment and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

The conference has been convened to address the human and economic fallout from the ongoing Iran conflict, which has driven up global oil and gas prices and disrupted fertiliser shipments at a critical point in the agriculture calendar.

“The world is sleepwalking into a global food crisis,” said Cooper, Foreign Secretary. “We cannot risk tens of millions of people going hungry because one country has hijacked an international shipping lane.”

The 45 million figure comes from a World Food Programme estimate cited in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office statement, which said markets have begun pricing in damage from the conflict for the next year as harvests suffer and food prices rise.

The FCDO said fertiliser needs to be moving in weeks not months, and global partners may need to ship emergency aid if they fail to restore supply.

Cooper said the UK would continue to lead calls for the immediate and unrestricted opening of the Strait, and advance plans for the Strait of Hormuz Multinational Mission to support any agreement.

She did not set out the operational scope of the proposed mission, the contributing nations, or a deployment timeline.

Minister for Development Baroness Chapman framed the response as a shift away from traditional aid towards investment-led partnerships.

“Countries want to have more control, move beyond aid, attract investment, strengthen their own health and education systems, and take charge of their own futures,” said Chapman. “Traditional development finance alone cannot meet that call, indeed it never could.”

A new compact

At the centre of the conference is the Global Partnerships Compact, a shared agreement the FCDO said is designed to build a system of international cooperation resilient to shocks including the Iran crisis and its impact on energy, fertiliser and food prices.

The conference is also expected to mobilise billions of pounds in innovative finance, with British International Investment positioned to deploy its own capital and crowd in private investors.

“BII is evolving to support the UK’s ambition to become the investment partner of choice for businesses in developing countries,” said Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of BII. “BII will deploy its own capital and crowd-in private investment, to forge mutually beneficial new partnerships.”

South African Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Maropene Ramokgopa, whose government is co-hosting the conference, said partnerships would help reform the global financial architecture.

“Through partnerships, we can accelerate progress on developmental priorities, mobilise investment, and bridge inequalities by reforming the global financial architecture, while contributing meaningfully to global solutions,” said Ramokgopa.

Kate Hampton, CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, said the conference would shape the UK’s approach through its G20 presidency. “A diverse group of partners is coming to London to reset how we cooperate while getting the best out of our multilateral system,” said Hampton.

The FCDO did not provide a figure for the volume of fertiliser currently held up by the closure, nor an estimate of how much further food prices may rise if the Strait remains shut beyond mid-year.

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