Any closure of strait of Hormuz would be act of self-harm, says Lammy

Any Iranian move to close the strait of Hormuz would be an act of monumental self-harm, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said as he continued to refuse to endorse the Israeli and American strikes on Iran, or lay out the UK view of their lawfulness.

- Patrick Wintour

Lammy said there was no need for the government to say if the strikes were legal since Britain was not involved in the action and had not been asked by the US to take part or to allow Washington to use the UK's Diego Garcia base to hit Iran.

Lammy denied the US was involved in regime change, saying the American attacks were very targeted. No assessment had yet been completed on the effectiveness of the US attacks, he admitted, raising questions as to whether Iran had moved its enriched uranium to a new site.

Lammy, in an hour-long statement to the Commons, disclosed that the first RAF plane had evacuated 63 British nationals and their dependents to Cyprus. He said negotiations were under way to help the 4,000 British citizens in Israel who had registered with the Foreign Office.

Referring to the Iranian parliament decision to vote for the closure of the strait of Hormuz, he said contingency plans were in place.

He told MPs: "Be in no doubt we are prepared to defend our personnel, our assets and those of our allies and partners. We are closely monitoring how energy markets are responding to the conflict. We have been extremely clear to the Iranians. Any action to blockade the strait of Hormuz would be a monumental act of self-harm, making a diplomatic solution even harder."