The collapse of the UN evacuation plan in the Strait of Hormuz is not merely a logistical failure; it is a symbol of the West’s collective loss of nerve. As the Royal Navy steams towards the Persian Gulf, one is reminded of the Victorian gunboat diplomacy that once secured global trade routes. Yet today, we do not send a fleet for empire but for survival.
The Strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, is the jugular of modern civilisation. To let it clot with chaos is to invite a return to the dark ages of resource wars. The UN’s retreat is predictable: a bureaucracy that mistakes negotiation for strength.
But history teaches that pirates and tyrants respect only the cannon’s mouth. Britain, with its fading but still potent naval tradition, must now do what it has always done in such crises: steady the tiller and fire a shot across the bow of anarchy. This is not about nostalgia for empire.
It is about recognising that some chokepoints are too vital for diplomacy’s endless dithering. The fall of Rome began when its legions failed to secure the grain routes. Let us not repeat that lesson.
