By Elizabeth Piper and Sarah Young
LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday Britain would not be drawn into a wider war in Iran but would work with allies on a "viable" plan to reopen the key Strait of Hormuz, a task he said would be "difficult" without de-escalation in the Middle East.
At a press conference aimed at easing public concern over rising energy costs, Starmer again justified his decision not to take part in the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, a move U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised, going as far as calling the British leader "no Churchill".
Starmer did not rule out any action to reopen the strait after Trump said at the weekend that Britain, China, France, Japan and South Korea should send warships to the region to help unblock it. But the British leader said any move would need to be agreed by as "many partners as possible".
Japan, Australia have both said they would not send naval vessels to the strait. Greece and Germany also ruled out joining any military operations there, with Berlin adding it was not a job for the NATO alliance.
STARMER PROMISES TO SHIELD BRITAIN FROM RISING COSTS
"Ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the (oil) market. That is not a simple task," Starmer told reporters.
"So we're working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impact."
About a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through the strait, a narrow passage of water between Iran and Oman. Tehran's effective shutting of the strait has sent oil prices to more than $100 a barrel.
That has seen energy prices leap for consumers, and Starmer said it was his priority to support working people with cost-of-living pressures.
He set out the first financial support, a 53-million-pound ($70.30 million) package for the most vulnerable households which rely on heating oil, and said his Labour government would keep any other measures under review as it was hard to predict what could happen in three to six months' time.
British domestic energy prices will largely be shielded by a tariff-pricing cap that will be in place until July. Were the impact to extend beyond that, the government would face calls to repeat the support Britain gave to households at the start of the Ukrainian war, when it stumped up 40 billion pounds.
The quickest way to ease cost-of-living pressures, Starmer said, was to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East.
Asked for the specifics on what Britain could contribute after it brought its last minehunter in the region back to Britain this month, he reiterated that it had autonomous mine-hunting systems in the area and was looking at other options.
The Iran conflict has strained ties - the so-called special relationship - between Britain and the United States, but Starmer said he would rather protect Britain's interests than get dragged deeper into the war.
After a conversation with Trump on Sunday, Starmer said he had a "good call" with the U.S. leader and that the two had spoken "in the way that you would expect between two allies and two leaders".
($1 = 0.7563 pounds)
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Kate Holton; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
