Canadian navy not asked to join British coalition to protect Strait of Hormuz

OTTAWA — Canada has no plans to contribute a ship to Britain's nascent navy coalition to defend international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canada has not been asked to contribute to the coalition the British government wants to create to protect international shipping lanes from Iran.

Ex-Canadian navy commanders who've served in the region, as well Middle East analysts, say that's not necessarily a bad thing.

They say cooler diplomatic heads will be required to solve the current crisis, and that a military build-up of Western warships in the Persian Gulf would only inflame tensions.

Last Friday, Iran seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero as it was transiting the narrow and strategically vital international waterway between Oman and Iran through which one-fifth of the world's oil is shipped.

That followed the British Royal Navy's seizure of an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar earlier this month for violating sanctions against Syria.

The Canadian Press