Australia Rules Out Sending Naval Ships to Strait of Hormuz

Australia has ruled out deploying naval vessels to the Strait of Hormuz as the US seeks allied support to protect one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes amid the widening Middle East conflict.

“I’m informed that we’re not intending to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz,” Catherine King, minister for transport and infrastructure and a member of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s cabinet, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Monday. “We’re well prepared here in this country to weather the economic crisis that is occurring as a result of the Middle East, but we’re not planning to send a ship.”