Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Britain will deploy a Royal Navy destroyer to the Middle East ahead of a planned multinational mission to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the UK Defense Ministry said on May 9.

A ministry spokesperson said the HMS Dragon was being pre-positioned "ahead of any future multinational mission to protect international shipping when conditions allow them to transit the Strait of Hormuz."

The deployment comes as London and Paris advance plans for a coalition naval mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation through the vital waterway, which accounted for about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the US-Israeli war with Iran erupted in February. Officials from more than 40 countries are understood to support the initiative.

A fragile cease-fire remains in place, but tensions in the Persian Gulf persist. Amid renewed exchanges of fire with Iranian forces in the Gulf, US forces on May 8 struck two Iranian tankers Washington accused of challenging its ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports,

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-war-us-hormuz-oil- blockade-gulf-israel/33640284.html?lbis=454576