European nations are setting aside Brexit rivalries with initial support for a British-inspired mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt proposed the plan this week after Iran’s seizure of the 50,000-dwt Stena Impero (built 2018) in retaliation to the detention of a VLCC in Gibraltar.

France and Germany were already known to be supportive of the naval mission, with Italy and Denmark now also onboard, according to...