Iran Conflict Escalation

That's what we understand. There's been no official spokespeople yet put up to say exactly that, but that's what the journalists are being told by the spokespeople not on the record, as it were. The Prime Minister continues to urge de-escalation here in the UK, but those words are really falling onto very, very stony ground, I think, at the moment. But we are being told that, yep, they continue to support freedom of navigation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. which is urgently needed we're being told to support the global economy well we know all about that the u.s however uh with donald trump telling fox news that other countries will be involved with the u.s in blockading the strait he didn't say which ones he did say nato had offered to clean out the strait his words not mine and said it would be free to use in the not too distant future uh and he said that the u.s would bring in minesweepers and the uk The UK, a member of NATO, would too. He said, I understand the UK and a couple of other countries are sending minesweepers. Well, I think that's news to the government here. They've always ruled out direct UK military involvement in the conflict. But is this direct UK military involvement or is this simply trying to maintain one of the international waterways? So, yeah, interesting oil prices surging. Stock markets are going to be very jittery today.