Summarised by Centrist
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand is reviewing a US proposal for possible involvement in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but Cabinet is nowhere near making a decision.
Peters said officials are “asking questions and seeking more information” about the proposal, after the key oil route was effectively closed following the US and Israeli attack on Iran.
The request lands amid fresh tension between Luxon and Peters, after released emails suggested the Prime Minister had earlier preferred “more explicit public support” for US-led strikes on Iran, a characterisation Luxon now disputes.
The Strait of Hormuz carries around a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade. Its closure poses a major risk to global fuel prices, shipping, and supply chains.
Peters said New Zealand has also been involved in talks about British and French-led plans for a possible multinational mission. Those plans have been described as “strictly defensive,” focused on protecting merchant vessels, reassuring commercial shipping operators, and clearing mines once conditions allow.
Any New Zealand role would depend on a “sustainable ceasefire agreement” being in place, Peters said.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour confirmed the US embassy had been asked by the Trump administration to press New Zealand to join a US-led alliance focused on reopening the strait. Seymour said the discussion was brief and any serious Cabinet decision was “still a way off, if it happens at all”.
Seymour said New Zealand clearly has an interest in freedom of navigation, given its reliance on trade as an island nation. But he said the real question is “how best to achieve that in this rather disturbed context.”
