Britain is actively exploring strategies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to break Iran’s grip on this crucial oil and gas shipping lane, according to Ed Miliband.

The Energy Secretary highlighted that the UK is considering various options to clear the critical maritime route, including the potential deployment of minehunting drones.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel out of the Persian Gulf, has disrupted the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East, escalating energy prices worldwide.

On Saturday, Donald Trump called on the UK and other nations to dispatch naval vessels to help secure the Strait, amid growing concerns over rising global fuel costs.

Following the US President’s appeal, reports suggest that Britain might consider deploying minehunting drones from the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, currently stationed in the Middle East.

Additionally, it has been revealed that the UK-made interceptor drones, initially produced for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, could potentially be used to counter Iran’s aerial Shahed drones.

Asked on Sunday if Britain was looking at sending minesweepers or minehunting drones to the Strait of Hormuz, Mr Miliband told Sky News: ‘We are talking to our allies. There’s different ways in which we can make maritime shipping possible.

‘We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done, because it’s so important that we get the strait reopened.’

Tehran is blockading the Strait of Hormuz out of the Persian Gulf, stemming the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East and pushing up energy prices across the globe 

Ed Miliband said there were ‘a range of things’ the UK could do to help unblock the narrow sea passage, as he did not rule out sending minehunting drones

Mr Miliband said there are ‘a range of things that we can do, including autonomous minehunting equipment’, but refused to speculate on how far along these proposals were.

The Energy Secretary also claimed the Iran crisis showed how Britain must ‘go further and faster’ on achieving his Net Zero goals, including to decarbonise the UK’s electricity grid by 2030.

In later interview, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: ‘If there’s one lesson we must learn from this crisis, we cannot keep being on this fossil fuel rollercoaster.

‘This is the mission this Government came in with. Some people said it was wrong, some people said it was not the right thing for the country.

‘Unfortunately, very sadly, what this crisis demonstrates yet again – as Russia-Ukraine did – it is absolutely the right thing for the country.’

Mr Miliband also insisted that ramping up production of North Sea oil and gas would ‘make no material difference’ to energy prices, with Labour committed to a ban on new oil and gas licences to explore new fields.

‘The North Sea is an incredibly important resource to us, we’re going to use it for decades to come,’ he said.

‘We’ve taken decisions to keep existing oil and gas fields open for their lifetime.

‘But let me just make this point, because some people talk about these new licences, the independent energy system operator says that will make no material difference.

‘The North Sea is a declining resource, it is down 75 per cent since the turn of the millenium.

‘And what they say, for our energy security, the best thing we can do is clean home-grown power.’

But the Energy Secretary did hint that Labour could consider U-turning on a planned fuel duty hike in response to the Iran crisis.

Asked if Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ plans to end the 16-year fuel duty freeze in September would be reversed because of spiking oil prices, Mr Miliband said: ‘Let me answer that by saying this, which is, I’ll be candid with you, we don’t know how long this conflict is going to go on and therefore, with five months to go until September, we will have to see where we are, obviously.’

Mr Miliband also vowed the Government would ‘stand by the British people in this in this crisis, and we’ll do what it takes to do that’.

The Energy Secretary earlier refused to be drawn into suggestions that Britain did not have a large enough military to meet all its commitments, as well as respond to the crisis.

It follows a furious row over the UK’s failure to have a significant Royal Navy presence in the region when the US and Israel began their strikes on Iran.

Mr Miliband told Sky News: ‘Of course it’s the case that there are significant demands in this unstable world on our Armed Forces.

‘I think our Armed Forces are actually doing a fantastic job in responding to those demands, and as I say, it is this Government that is investing in our Armed Forces.’

In an appeal to nations affected by spiking energy prices, Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday: ‘Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated.

‘In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline and continually shooting Iranian boats and ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!’

The Ministry of Defence responded by saying ‘a range of options’ were being considered to secure shipping through the Strait, where some 20 per cent of the world’s oil ordinarily passes through each day

Numerous oil tankers have come under fire as they attempted to pass through since the start of the Iran conflict.

There have also been growing concerns that Iran has starting placing sea mines in the strait to frustrate shipping.

Donald Trump on Saturday urged the UK and other nations to send naval vessels to help secure the Strait, amid rising panic about soaring fuel costs 

‘Octopus’ interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, could also be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones

Military chiefs are now considering the deployment of minehunting drones to deal with that threat, it is understood.

The Sunday Times, which first reported the proposals, said the minehunting drones could be deployed from the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, which is currently in the Middle East.

But the newspaper said it is not known how many drones are in service and which could be deployed.

The Sunday Telegraph meanwhile reported that interceptor drones, made in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, could also be used against Iran’s aerial Shahed drones.

That option is understood to be at a much earlier stage of consideration.

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, vowed to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz as a means of pressuring the US in his first public statement this week.

Mr Trump has threatened to ‘wipe out’ Kharg Island, a vital part of Iran’s oil infrastructure, should Tehran not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The US has already ‘totally obliterated’ a series of military targets on the island in recent strikes which Mr Trump described as ‘one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East’.