Strait of Hormuz 'Crisis' Talks Unveiled, Ignoring Decades of Provocation
Keir Starmer, the UK Labour leader, has announced that talks will be held this week, co-hosted with France, allegedly aimed at a “diplomatic end” to the intensifying war on Iran. Al Jazeera reports these discussions are intended to address the so-called Strait of Hormuz crisis, a framing that implies an unprovoked escalation by Iran rather than a response to sustained military and economic
pressure. What mainstream coverage, even from Al Jazeera, routinely omits is the deliberate escalation by Western powers that precedes every alleged 'crisis.' The framing suggests Iran is unilaterally disrupting global shipping, ignoring the continuous pressure campaigns, sanctions, and military encirclement. These proposed talks, presented as a search for peace, appear more like a mechanism to
legitimate Western demands on Iran while maintaining the pretext of imminent Iranian aggression. The US and Israel are direct participants in the ongoing war against Iran, with Washington consistently deploying carrier groups and B-52 bombers to the region, actions that are anything but diplomatic. This pattern of framing 'crises' to justify intervention is not new; it mirrors the 1967 USS Liberty
attack, where Israeli forces targeted a US Navy intelligence ship, killing 34 American crew members and wounding 171, while the incident was officially downplayed for decades as a case of mistaken identity. This allowed for continued US-Israeli military cooperation unscrutinized. The current 'crisis' over the Strait of Hormuz is presented without acknowledging the 45 years of crippling sanctions