The UK and France have backed coordinated action to restore navigation, while Spain, Greece and Japan ruled out military roles.
President Donald Trump’s push for allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz has drawn a patchwork response, with the UK and France signaling support for coordinated action to restore navigation.
Several European and Asian partners are rejecting military involvement, and the European Union is debating whether it can do more to protect shipping without widening the Iran war.
Trump said on March 15 that he had asked about seven countries that depend heavily on the waterway to help secure it, after earlier naming China, France, Japan, South Korea, and Britain as countries he hoped would deploy ships while U.S. forces kept targeting what remained of Iran’s naval capabilities. The Strait normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Brent crude traded near $105 a barrel on March 16 after rising more than 40 percent since the war began.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took one of the more active positions among U.S. allies, while still stopping short of committing forces. Starmer said on March 16 that 10 Downing Street was working with allies, including in Europe and the Gulf, to develop a “viable, collective plan” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re not, there are no decisions having been made. It’ll have to be something which is agreed by as many partners as possible, is my strong view. And we’re not at that stage yet, but we are working hard,” Starmer said, adding that this has been discussed with Trump.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a March 15 post on X after speaking with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, called for an end to Iran’s attacks in the region.
“Freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz must be restored as soon as possible,” he said, adding that only a new political and security framework could deliver lasting peace and security.
A day earlier, the French Foreign Ministry said in its response account on X that its naval mission is in the Eastern Mediterranean and remains “defensive.”
