On the morning of April 2, 2026, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper hosted a virtual summit of more than 40 countries at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to discuss ways of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the Washington Post reported, citing an AP dispatch. The United States was not invited. The meeting is happening as Bahrain's parallel effort in the United Nations Security Council — a draft resolution calling for "all necessary means" to protect shipping — collapsed the day before, after Russia, China, and France raised objections that broke diplomatic consensus. Iran's IRGC, meanwhile, announced the strait would remain closed to "enemies of this nation." About 1,000 ships are stranded in or near the strait. Only approximately 130 have passed through since the war began on February 28 — roughly the number that would normally transit in a single day, according to The Guardian.
The UK Summit: 40 Countries, No US
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the meeting on April 1, telling reporters it would bring together 35 countries "to assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities," according to The Guardian's reporting. By the time the meeting convened April 2, the Washington Post reported the count had grown to more than 40 countries.
The countries participating include the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and Nigeria — nations that had signed a joint statement last month committing to "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait," per The Guardian. Several more countries have since joined the original signatories.
The US was explicitly not invited. The Guardian reported it is "understood the US has not been invited directly to participate in the talks, with the focus on those who signed the joint statement." This exclusion is notable given Trump's own stated position: on March 31, Trump posted that there would be no ceasefire with Iran until it had relinquished control of Hormuz, writing — as The Guardian quoted — "We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!" Trump had also said it will be up to other countries to make the strait safe if the US ceases its strikes on Tehran.
Starmer framed the meeting as a matter of British national interest. "My guide from the start of this conflict has always been the British national interest. And freedom of navigation in the Middle East is in the British national interest," he told reporters, per The Guardian. He also cautioned that restoring shipping would not be simple: "I do have to level with people on this, this will not be easy."
British military planners have been sent to US Central Command to look at options for getting tankers through the strait, according to The Guardian. Starmer said that after the virtual meeting, British military planners would meet "to look at how we can marshal our capabilities and make the strait accessible and safe after the fighting has stopped."
The UN Resolution: Collapsed Before It Was Voted On
The diplomatic failure at the UN Security Council immediately preceded the UK summit. Bahrain — which holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April — had been circulating a draft resolution since March 23 that would authorize "all necessary means" to protect shipping in and around Hormuz, Reuters reported.
The original draft explicitly invoked Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which grants the Security Council authority to impose measures ranging from sanctions to military force. Diplomats said Russia and China, described by Reuters and The National as "aligned with Iran," were expected to veto it if necessary. Bahrain circulated a revised draft removing the explicit Chapter VII reference but retaining "all necessary means" language — hoping the softer phrasing might overcome objections.
It didn't. Under a so-called "silence procedure" — where a resolution is adopted unless any member formally objects before a deadline — Russia, China, and France all raised concerns before Bahrain's Wednesday noon deadline, according to a UN diplomat cited by Reuters. Bahrain's UN ambassador Jamal Fares Alrowaiei told reporters the resolution still required "a lot of work," while insisting the Gulf states could not "accept that the situation remains as is."
Alrowaiei stated at a press conference: "We cannot accept economic terrorism affecting our region and the world, and the whole world is being affected by this development. This resolution is of paramount importance, and it comes at a critical juncture," according to The National's reporting.
Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, told The National that Moscow was seeking a resolution that addressed the crisis "comprehensively, including its root causes," rather than what she described as a "one-sided and unbalanced approach." No vote has been scheduled, and it remains unclear whether Bahrain will proceed to a formal vote without broader support, per Reuters.
The Scale of the Blockade
The context behind both diplomatic efforts is a maritime crisis with no modern precedent in severity. The Strait of Hormuz, at its narrowest, funnels two-mile-wide traffic lanes in each direction — the mechanism through which approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and gas normally flows, according to The Guardian. Since the war began on February 28, The Guardian reported that only about 130 ships have made the passage — roughly the number that would normally pass through in a single day.
The International Energy Agency, cited in The National's reporting, warned that disruptions to global oil supplies in April are expected to be "about twice as severe as last month" — a projection consistent with the accumulating backlog of stranded vessels and increasingly disrupted shipping logistics. About 1,000 ships are stranded by Iran's partial blockade, according to The Guardian's reporting from Starmer's briefing.
The Guardian also noted that approximately one-third of global fertilizers necessary for half of the world's food production normally transit the strait — a dimension of the blockade that has received less coverage than the oil market impact but is beginning to surface in agricultural commodity pricing discussions.
Iran's IRGC stated in a broadcast on state television that the strait would remain closed to "enemies of this nation" and "remains under control of its navy," per The Guardian. This position was reiterated in the context of Trump's April 1 suggestion that a ceasefire would depend on Hormuz being reopened.
The Divergence: US Out of the Room
The UK summit's exclusion of the US reflects a growing diplomatic divergence about how Hormuz gets reopened — and who is responsible for doing it. Trump's position has shifted: early in the conflict, he vowed to use naval forces to escort shipping vessels through the strait, and pushed other nations to help secure the route. More recently, according to Reuters, he has said the U.S. does not need to be part of that effort, and that others — particularly NATO allies in Europe — should do the work.
The British and French approach, embodied in Thursday's summit, is to build a coalition capable of operating independently of U.S. military action — one focused on the post-fighting phase of restoring commercial navigation. Starmer explicitly framed the effort as contingent on "after the fighting has stopped," not during active hostilities.
The ISW's April 1 special report noted that the UAE had lobbied in favor of a UN Security Council resolution and may be willing to deploy assets to secure international shipping in the strait — treating Iranian efforts to assert sovereignty over the strait as a "direct threat to its economic security." The UAE's participation in Thursday's UK-led summit is consistent with that posture.
Two separate Hormuz diplomatic tracks are now running in parallel: the UN track, which has stalled; and the UK-led coalition track, which met today without the country that started the war. The question the summit won't answer is the one that matters most: can Hormuz be reopened by ships and diplomacy, without the US — or does it require the US to stop fighting first?