Following a conference for securing the Strait of Hormuz, co-chaired by France and the United Kingdom and bringing together around thirty countries, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a “neutral and independent” mission to ensure freedom of navigation in this strait on Friday.
“A neutral and independent” mission will be established to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once the war between the United States and Iran is over, Emmanuel Macron declared on Friday, April 17, at the end of a meeting in Paris.
The state leader also praised Iran’s announcement of reopening the Strait of Hormuz for the duration of the ceasefire with the United States, but added that summit participants of “non-belligerents” were calling for its “full, unconditional reopening by all parties.”
The military security mission supported by these countries “is even more legitimate because it will help strengthen these short-term announcements and especially give them a chance to endure,” said the French president at the Elysee Palace following the summit.
A “exclusively defensive posture”
According to Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a future international naval mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz will have to wait “for a cessation of hostilities, in coordination with all regional and international actors, in an exclusively defensive posture.”
Keir Starmer, on his part, assured that “more than a dozen countries” have already offered to contribute to a “peaceful and defensive” multinational mission led by London and Paris to secure the strait. This mission will be deployed “as soon as conditions are met,” he added.
Iran announced on Friday the reopening of this strategic strait for global hydrocarbon trade as long as the truce in the Middle East lasts.
This announcement was welcomed by Donald Trump, who, however, maintained the blockade imposed by the United States on Iranian ports.
