{"id":92100,"date":"2026-05-01T02:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T02:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/92100\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T02:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T02:35:10","slug":"us-invites-nz-to-help-reopen-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/92100\/","title":{"rendered":"US invites NZ to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Winston<\/p>\n

\nWinston Peters and Donald Trump.
\nPhoto: Mark Papalii \/ RNZ \/ Jim Watson \/ AFP\n<\/p>\n

The United States has invited New Zealand to join forces with a number of other countries to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The vital shipping route has beenlargely shut<\/a> since the beginning of the Middle East war.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration had called on US embassies to encourage foreign governments to join a coalition that would restore access to the strait.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand had received “initial and preliminary information” on a US proposal.<\/p>\n

“We are in the process of asking questions and seeking more information about this preliminary proposal. Accordingly, we are not close to a point where the New Zealand Government would be making any decisions about it.”<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

\nThe Strait of Hormuz, seen from space.
\nPhoto: AFP PHOTO \/NASA\/HANDOUT\n<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said New Zealand had also been in meetings with “a broad range of partners” to understand the UK and France-led military planning for a potential multinational mission to re-open the passage<\/a>. Those meetings would inform any future advice to ministers on potentially contributing to a multinational coalition, they said.<\/p>\n

The minister’s office said New Zealand would only consider participating in any mission related to the strait if there was a sustainable ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n

“Our potential participation would also be a matter for Cabinet consideration at the appropriate future time.”<\/p>\n

Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson Vanushi Walters told Midday Report New Zealand should only consider joining a mission to reopen the Strait under strict conditions.<\/p>\n

“If there was a sustainable ceasefire, and there was compliance with international law – so ideally a UN [United Nations] mandate – with Iran’s consent, so that they didn’t treat New Zealand as a belligerent party, then there’s possibility that there could be some intervention,” she said.<\/p>\n

New Zealand should not join any use of force and must be careful to continue its proud history of standing up for international law, Walters said.<\/p>\n

She expected the government to include her in conversations about any action in the Strait to ensure a bipartisan approach.<\/p>\n

Former National MP and defence minister Wayne Mapp agreed New Zealand’s involvement hinged on a ceasefire – but he told Midday Report the country does have capability to contribute to any mission.<\/p>\n

It would take weeks to get Navy frigates to the Strait, he said, but the Poseidon P8 plane could be used.<\/p>\n

“A lot of this is monitoring who’s there, what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and those aircraft have certainly got that sort of surveillance capability.”<\/p>\n

Mapp also expected the UN to be involved.<\/p>\n

Walters and Mapp both said New Zealand was unlikely to suffer ramifications if it turned down the US invitation, because it would be one of a number of other countries doing so.<\/p>\n

The US Embassy has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winston Peters and Donald Trump. Photo: Mark Papalii \/ RNZ \/ Jim Watson \/ AFP The United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[1982,1981,102,42,475,1980,1978,1979,101],"class_list":["post-92100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-hormuz","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116496991820351480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}