“If some often consider, wrongly, that this is not our conflict and that it is far away, that it is distant, unfortunately it has effects on us,” said Cédric Perrin, president (LR) of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee, reminded on March 25 that France is in one way or another concerned about the dramatic events unfolding in Iran, and more broadly in this region of the world, where 20% of the world’s supply of hydrocarbons passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Last Thursday, Emmanuel Macron indicated that France would adopt only a defensive posture, for the protection of its interests in the region, and its allies with whom it has security treaties. He also mentioned the possibility of a “UN framework” for a future mission to secure navigation in the Persian Gulf, where 20% of the world’s oil passes through. “The French position, and I will say it tonight, seems perfectly balanced,” reacted the senator from Territoire de Belfort. He will speak at the end of the evening, during a debate following the government’s statement in the Senate on the situation in the Middle East.
“I don’t know what [France] will be able to do. In any case, if it does, it will have to be something perfectly controlled,” he stressed, insisting on the need for “maximum security conditions.” “This question of the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait [Strait of Red Sea, ed.], these are major issues that have been discussed by the Navy for a very long time, with potentially very dangerous consequences.”
