Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil supplies, if a ceasefire is reached in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Sunday.

“If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said during a Fuji TV programme. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.”

Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Japan to use its Self-Defence Forces overseas if an attack, including on a close security partner, threatens Japan’s survival and no other means are available to address it.

Tokyo has no immediate plans to seek arrangements to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz for stranded Japanese vessels, Motegi said, adding it was “extremely important” to create conditions that allow all ships to navigate through the narrow waterway, the conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil shipments.

Steve Reed would not be drawn on whether the Government backs President Donald Trump’s 48-hour deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

He was repeatedly asked about his position appearing on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme but only said the UK will not be drawn into a wider conflict.

“I think you need to ask President Trump about the things that President Trump is talking about,” the Housing Secretary said.

Early on Sunday, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran had 48 hours to “FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz”, or the US would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants.

Housing secretary Steve Reed insisted that the UK was safe and will not be dragged into the Iran conflict.

Despite warnings Iran has developed long-range missiles capable of reaching major European cities, he said the UK had strong defensive capabilities.

He told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “We have systems and defences in place that keep the United Kingdom safe, and that will continue to happen, but the Prime Minister has been crystal clear about this war.

“We didn’t join the war, we’re not going to be dragged into this war, but we will take necessary defensive action to protect British interests, British people, or our allies across the region.

Mr Reed said the fact that one of the missiles fired at Diego Garcia was intercepted, and the other failed, shows shows “that our defensive capabilities are correct”.

The Prime Minister will hold a Cobra meeting next week to discuss plans to help households with cost of living issues caused by the war, it is understood.

Lord Richard Walker, the cost-of-living tsar, said he has “asked the government to consider a temporary profit cap, if required, to stop producers and retailers exploiting the crisis to make windfall profits at the expense of consumers”.

The desire to stay out of other people’s wars is understandable, and there is no dishonour in John McDonnell, a Labour neutralist, seeking Liberal Democrat and Green support in parliament to try to block the United States using British bases for attacks on Iran.

But it is not possible for Britain to have nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East. Our citizens’ standard of living is affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. British expatriates are vulnerable to Iranian missiles in several Gulf countries, which are allies. And British bases, including Cyprus and Diego Garcia, are also within range.

Mr McDonnell would no doubt want to give up British military bases around the world, and thinks that British expats and the allied nations that accommodate them should look after themselves. But even then he ought to recognise that Britain has an economic interest in the free passage of ships in international waters – at least until such a time, some decades in the future, when we can function without petroleum products at all.

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One person was killed after a fire broke out in two vehicles near Israel’s northern Galilee, the Israeli emergency service said on Sunday, after the Israeli military reported strikes from Lebanon toward a community along the north border.

Damage and wounded were reported, the Israeli military said, without further elaborating.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the attempted attack on Diego Garcia was the first time Tehran had launched a long-range missile since the start of the war, and showed it is now capable of reaching cities like London, Paris or Berlin.

“We have been saying it: The Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat,” the IDF said in a statement.

The Israeli military claimed the missiles could reach a distance of around 4,000km, posing a danger to dozens of countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Iran is ready to cooperate with the International Maritime Organisation to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers in the Gulf, the Iranian representative to the UN

maritime agency said, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday.Ali Mousavi said the Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, adding that passage through the narrow waterway was possible by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran.”

Diplomacy remains Iran’s priority. However, a complete cessation of aggression as well as mutual trust and confidence are more important,” Mousavi said, adding that Israeli and U.S. attacks against Iran were at the “root of current situation in Strait of Hormuz”

While the fate of many detainees arrested during the nationwide protests in January – which many consider to have been a “national uprising” – remains unclear, reports received by Independent Persian indicate that a new wave of arrests has begun across various cities in Iran.

Informed sources say that since the start of US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic on 28 February, the scale of arrests has expanded, with thousands detained on security-related charges.

Amirhossein Miresmaeili reports on an increase in security-related arrests in Iran during its conflict with the US and Israel.