Australia will not assist the US in blockading the Strait of Hormuz, senior MPs have confirmed, as the Coalition urged the government to act in the “national interest”.

Axar.az informs that Australia’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives, Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky News on Monday the government is “not considering joining the blockade”.

“We believe that the best way to get a lasting peace and to ensure ultimately that petrol prices come down for Australians is a negotiated settlement,” he said.

Matt later told Channel Nine that Australia has not been asked to participate.

“We haven’t been asked to participate. We’ve received no requests. We haven’t been asked … and I don’t expect that we will be.

“What we want is for negotiations to resume. We want to see an end to the loss of life and the loss of infrastructure, civil in the Middle East. And we want to see trade resume,” he noted.