UK deploys warship HMS Dragon to Middle East ahead of likely mission to secure Hormuz

LONDON : Britain said on Saturday it was deploying its warship HMS Dragon to the Middle East in preparation for a potential multinational effort to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz once conditions allow. The air defence destroyer was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean in March, shortly after the start of the Iran war, to help defend Cyprus.

The relocation of HMS Dragon to the Middle East comes after France deployed its carrier strike group to the southern Red Sea, as the two countries work together on a defensive plan aimed at restoring confidence in the trade route. HMS Dragon is being pre-positioned in the region for a potential UK-French-led operation aimed at safeguarding shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to ⁠secure the strait when conditions allow,” a spokesperson for Britain’s Ministry of Defence said.

The HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer previously stationed in the eastern Mediterranean near Cyprus, will stand ready to join a UK- and French-led maritime initiative.

The proposed mission, backed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, aims to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

France and Britain have been working on a proposal ⁠to lay the groundwork for safe transit through the strait once the situation stabilises.

Britain’s participation in any protective mission will be restrained by the stretched ⁠Royal Navy, which is much smaller now than in the past and has had to retire some ships before replacements became available.

Tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering retaliation from Tehran against Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US has enforced a naval blockade targeting Iranian maritime traffic in the waterway since April 13.