Hormuz is open for neutrals, not UK belligerents. Sit down, Cooper.

The US and UK-backed Israel breached the ceasefire reached on Wednesday by indiscriminately bombing Beirut in Lebanon, but it seems like our leaders, like Yvette Cooper, are more interested in reopening the Strait of Hormuz without the accountability of their main ally in the Middle East unleashing genocidal violence in Beirut.

The Strait of Hormuz

Labour ‘Friend of Israel’ Cooper is furious at Iran for closing a shipping lane but has nothing but lip service for Israel bombing Beirut, hitting 600 schools and 30 universities, and violating yet another ceasefire. Nothing on all the B-52 planes taking

Further, she knows full well that the Strait of Hormuz is actually open for peaceful nations – the Spanish, French,  Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese have all gotten their ships through. So the idea that the Strait is closed is simply not true.

Iran has re-closed the vital Hormuz Strait to oil tankers connected in any way to its aggressors and has again hit US facilities in the Gulf. Iran continues to allow vessels belonging to peaceful nations to pass.

When asked about Israel’s breach of the agreed ceasefire terms by bombing Lebanon on Wednesday and the Strait of Hormuz being opened, the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said

We want the ceasefire to continue. We don’t want a return to conflict, and we crucially want to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened because this is crucial for the global economy and for tackling the cost of living crisis here at home, and no country should be allowed to hijack these international shipping routes that impact the entire world and its economy.

We do want to see the ceasefire extended to Lebanon. I am deeply troubled about the escalating attacks we saw from Israel in Lebanon yesterday. We are seeing the humanitarian consequences, the huge mass displacement of people in Lebanon, so we do strongly want the ceasefire extended to Lebanon but we also need to maintain that ceasefire that is applying currently accross Iran and crucially get the Strait reopened as well.

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Foreign sec @YvetteCooperMP tells Sky News she is “deeply troubled” by the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and wants the ceasefire to be extended to the country.

She adds that “it is crucial that Iran is not allowed to introduce tolls on the Strait of Hormuz.” pic.twitter.com/JrCOpxglu9

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 9, 2026

Lebanon strikes get lip service only

Cooper concentrates most of her wrath on Iran, closing the Strait rather than the British-backed Israel’s unspeakable violence that not only violated ceasefire terms but was a grotesque escalation.

Cooper went on to say she is speaking with the International Maritime Organisation in London about their proposal to get the first ships moving, the trapped ships that are trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, and it is also crucial that Iran is not allowed to introduce tolls, calling it an international transit through the high seas, so it cannot be allowed to apply tolls and restrictions on that route as it reopens.

Let’s first examine Cooper’s claim about the Strait. She may be familiar with the 1994 San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea.

Well, according to the Conversation:

Under the law of naval warfare, states are generally divided between belligerents (those engaged in armed hostilities) and neutrals (those not involved in the war).

The line between belligerents and neutrals is not always an easy one to draw. In the Middle East, at a minimum, Iran, Israel and the US could be classified as belligerents.

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According to the San Remo Manual, ships flagged to neutral states, including their warships, may exercise their navigational rights under general international law through a belligerent’s strait.

It is recommended that neutral warships give notice of their passage as a precautionary measure. A belligerent must not target neutral ships – they are not considered military objectives and must not be fired upon.

During this conflict, Iran’s territorial sea (which includes the waters within the Strait of Hormuz) counts as an area of naval warfare. The belligerent states are legally required to have due regard for the legitimate rights and duties of neutral states in an international strait.

Here is the UK’s problem, under this legal framework, the United Kingdom is not a neutral state.

By actively backing Israel’s military operations, providing weapons, intelligence, and diplomatic cover, the UK has made itself a party to the conflict. Cooper knows this and is conveniently glossing it over.

That means the UK is a belligerent state, just like the US and Israel. Had the UK chosen to act as a true neutral, rather than as a US vassal, it would have the legal standing to demand unimpeded transit through the Strait of Hormuz. But as a belligerent, it has no such right. Cooper cannot have it both ways, arming one side of a war while posing as a defender of international shipping law.

UK is supporting an illegal war

Contrary to Keir Starmer’s claims that the UK role is only defensive, the government has allowed US bombers to use its airbases at home and on the colonised Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia. The UK, whatever the government claims, is becoming more deeply entangled in this runaway war.

Sanam Naraghi Anderlini put it well on Channel 4 News. She said the Strait of Hormuz is actually open if you’re not part of the war. The Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese have all gotten their ships through. So the idea that the Strait is closed is just not true. It’s only closed if you are supporting the illegal war. Naraghi also pointed out that the US-Israel aggression has hit 30 universities and 600 schools.

When Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy quoted Trump saying that some Iranians wanted the US to bomb it, she quickly responded that it was “egregious” and “absurd” to suggest that in a country of 93 million people suffering from toxins from petrochemical plants that were bombed, that they chose it.

Labour Friends of Israel member Cooper should be ashamed. While Israel bombs Beirut and burns through yet another ceasefire, Britain’s Foreign Secretary saves her outrage for Iran closing a shipping lane. Cost of living crisis in UK is Labour’s making – not Iran’s – enough gaslighting.

Featured image via the Canary