time the british government was in an emergency meeting to come up with a response to what it calls iranian piracy on the open sea on friday iranian revolutionary guard troops ignored warnings from the british navy and seized a british ship in the strait of hormuz the fact that it has taken 3 days for london to announce its response speaks to the few and frustrating options that it has ever since the u.s. withdrew from the iran nuclear deal britain has found itself in an almost impossible position how to help the rest of europe save the nuclear deal while maintaining ties with its most important ally the united states and to make matters more difficult britain is counting on a new trade deal with the u.s. after it leaves the european union later this year so the irony was not lost today when the u.k. said that it will put together a naval protection mission in the strait of hormuz to be led by europe and not