Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon is being sent to the Middle East in preparation for a potential international mission to safeguard shipping through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. The Type 45 destroyer will “pre-position” in the region, ready to join the UK and French-led initiative once hostilities cease between Iran and US-Israeli forces, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

A fragile ceasefire remains in place, despite American forces hitting two Iranian tankers allegedly attempting to breach a US blockade of the strait. Donald Trump is attempting to put pressure on Iran by preventing ships travelling to or from its ports along the narrow waterway, restricting Tehran’s ability to export oil. The Strait of Hormuz — through which 20% of the world’s oil supply usually passes through — has effectively been closed since early March.

Iran began stopping shipping traffic from passing through the chokepoint in response to US-Israeli strikes, causing disruption to supply chains and oil prices to surge.

Earlier this week, a French container ship was struck in the Strait of Hormuz, injuring several on board.

HMS Dragon has been in the Eastern Mediterranean since the end of March, helping to protect an RAF base on Cyprus after it was hit by a drone believed to have been fired by one of Iran’s proxies.

She is set to join France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Middle East.

The UK and France are leading a mulitnational effort to reopen the key trade route.

An MoD spokesman said: “We can confirm that HMS Dragon will deploy to the Middle East to pre-position ahead of any future multinational mission to protect international shipping when conditions allow them to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait, when conditions allow.”