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French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France and Britain will soon host talks on creating a “peaceful multinational mission” to help restore maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
“In the coming days, together with the United Kingdom, we will organize a conference with those countries prepared to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait,” Macron wrote.
He said the mission would be “strictly defensive” and ready to deploy “as soon as circumstances permit.”
Macron’s announcement came after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London would not support the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports announced by President Donald Trump.
“We are not supporting a blockade,” Starmer told BBC Radio 5.
“Our response is focused on getting the Strait of Hormuz opened because that’s the way we get energy prices down as quickly as possible,” he added.
Asked whether Trump bore responsibility for rising U.K. energy costs, Starmer declined to answer directly and said his priority was bringing countries together to push for de-escalation and reopening the strait.
He added that Iran is responsible for restricting traffic through the Gulf and said Britain is “not getting dragged into the war.”
Trump announced that a blockade on Iranian ports would take effect at 1400 GMT on Monday.
The U.S. naval blockade announcement followed rare direct talks between Washington and Tehran in Islamabad over the weekend aimed at ending the war that began on Feb. 28.
Those negotiations ended without an agreement.
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