Macron and Starmer hold international summit on reopening the Strait of Hormuz

PARIS (AP) — The leaders of France and the U.K. will gather dozens of countries — but not the United States — on Friday to push forward plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

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The Paris meeting is part of attempts by sidelined nations to ease the impact of a conflict they didn’t start and haven’t joined, but that has sent the global economy reeling. After the war started on Feb. 28, Iran effectively shut the narrow strait though which a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.

The U.S. is not part of the planning for what has been branded the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Freedom of Navigation Initiative. In a post on X ahead of Friday’s conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said the mission to provide security for shipping through the strait would be “strictly defensive,” limited to non-belligerent countries and deployed “when security conditions allow.”

Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have spearheaded international efforts to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran, which Starmer has accused of “holding the world’s economy to ransom.” U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a retaliatory American blockade of Iranian ports has raised the economic jeopardy even higher.

“The unconditional and immediate reopening of the Strait is a global responsibility, and we need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again,” Starmer said before the meeting.

Military planning underway

France and Britain also have led military planning meetings, in an echo of the “coalition of the willing” assembled to provide security for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in that war.

French military spokesman Col. Guillaume Vernet said Thursday that the mission is still “in construction.”

Macron’s office said participants will contribute “each according to its capabilities,” stressing options to ensure safe passage through the strait will depend on the security situation after a lasting ceasefire.

“What matters is that ship operators have all the means at their disposal to be sure their vessels will not be hit if they pass through the strait. That may require intelligence, mine-clearing capabilities, military escorts, communication procedures with coastal states, etc.,” an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the French presidency’s customary practices.

Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said mine-clearing and creating a warning system for maritime threats were more likely roles for the coalition than warships escorting commercial tankers though the strait.

“You need huge numbers of vessels for that sort of thing, which nobody has,” he said.

Iran expert Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said mine-clearing is an area where European countries and their partners could play a role.