Macron, Starmer meet on reopening of Hormuz strait

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron and British PM Keir Starmer on Friday chaired a meeting of allies to consider sending a multinational force to ensure security and free-flowing trade in the Strait of Hormuz once the current conflict between Iran and the US and Israel ends.

Macron and Starmer held bilateral talks at the Elysee Palace before the wider meeting got underway in the afternoon. EU players German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni attended in person in Paris with other 30 heads of state and government joining via video conference. The meeting is a chance for Europe to display its capacities after having largely been sidelined by the US in diplomatic efforts to end the war.

According to the Elysee, the leaders will call for a return to full freedom of navigation in the strait and address the economic consequences of the blockade but also prepare the deployment of “a strictly defensive multinational military mission” to ensure freedom of navigation.

Officials have emphasised such a force would only be deployed when the war came to an end. Key potential tasks would include mine-sweeping and ensuring no tolls are levied for passage. “We need some military planning, and that is what we’re coming together to do today, and it’s the right thing to do, as the longer this conflict goes on, the more the impact,” Star­mer said before the meeting.

‘Strait open for remainder of ceasefire’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz is “declared completely open” for the remainder of the US-Iran ceasefire. On X, he said: “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through [the] Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” In the exuberant all-caps post on Truth Social, Trump said, “Iran has just announced the strait is fully open and ready for full passage. Thank you!”