ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - France and the United Kingdom will co-host talks to form a “peaceful multinational mission” to restore navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday, as tensions rise over US plans to impose a blockade on Iranian shipping.
“We will organize with the United Kingdom, in the coming days, a conference with countries ready to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait,” Macron said in a post on X. “This strictly defensive mission, distinct from the belligerents, will be deployed as soon as the situation allows.”
US President Donald Trump said Monday that Washington will impose a naval blockade on ships entering and leaving Iranian ports from Monday evening in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been under tightened Iranian control since March 8 in retaliation for the US and Israel’s military campaign launched on February 28.
In response, Iran warned that such a move would undermine the security of other ports across the Persian Gulf. More than 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports transit through the waterway, which also handles around 20 percent of global seaborne oil trade.
Following Trump’s remarks, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC that “We’re not supporting the blockade” and are “not getting dragged” into the war. He said that the UK has mine-sweeping capabilities but “wouldn’t go into operational matters.”
Other countries have called for the immediate reopening of the waterway.
China’s foreign ministry told Rudaw’s Mahdi Faraj that keeping the Strait secure and open is in the “common interest of the international community,” adding that "China will take necessary measures to safeguard its own energy security.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told state-run Anadolu Agency that "negotiations with Iran should be conducted, persuasion methods should be used, and the strait should be opened as soon as possible."
The tensions come despite a two-week ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran, which paved the way for high-level talks between US and Iranian delegations in Pakistan that failed to produce an agreement.
Fidan said that both Iran and the United States appear “sincere” on the ceasefire despite not reaching a deal.