UK and France convene 30-nation Hormuz demining planning conference

Analysis
The 30-nation conference, converging across government and press reporting, moves Hormuz reopening from bilateral US-Iran negotiation into coalition staff planning on a multi-month clock. The publicly named six-month US clearance horizon means commercial traffic stays constrained into late 2026 regardless of any near-term political off-ramp, asymmetrically rewarding Iran's keep-the-mines-and-demand-concessions posture. The Royal Navy's reliance on RFA Lyme Bay as a single mothership for uncrewed systems is operationally defensible but logistically fragile given the long transit from UK ports and limited drone inventory. Where prior reporting framed this as a convening event, today's close-out establishes 30-plus nations at the staff level and a publicly named US clearance horizon, making clear the Islamabad-talks timeline and the demining timeline no longer intersect. A visible demining deployment before a political framework stabilizes is very unlikely within the next 30 days, since clearance operations inside an unresolved political crisis invite attack on the clearance platforms themselves. The announcement may instead be primarily a deterrent move, making the cost of keeping mines laid visible to Tehran as 30 nations signal they will eventually clear them regardless.