Europe Rallies to Secure Strait of Hormuz Shipping

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom and France will jointly lead a multinational effort aimed at protecting commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. He announced the plan after a meeting involving 51 nations. Starmer described the initiative as peaceful and defensive, with the stated goal of reassuring commercial operators and supporting mine-clearance activity.

Officials said more operational detail is expected next week following a military planning conference in London. The mission is intended to begin only after fighting in the region has ended. Starmer said multiple countries have offered to provide assets for the effort.

The move comes after Iran temporarily blocked the Strait of Hormuz from late February, a disruption that officials said pushed up global energy and fuel prices. The strait is a major maritime chokepoint, and the source material describes it as effectively closed by Iran after military actions involving the U.S. and Israel. French President Emmanuel Macron said the closure carried severe consequences for the global economy.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday that the route was “completely open,” and U.S. President Donald Trump made a similar statement. However, maritime tracking services indicated that vessel movements through the waterway remained minimal. That gap between official statements and observed traffic has left uncertainty over how quickly normal commercial transit can resume.

Germany signaled it could join the effort. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany was ready to participate and added that he wanted U.S. involvement. The source material also notes that Trump declined an offer of assistance from NATO, repeating his criticism of the alliance.

Separately, the U.S. is maintaining its own naval blockade on Iranian ports, according to the source material. This is occurring even as a temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is in place and is set to expire mid-next week. The timing of that deadline, alongside the condition that the new multinational mission will start only once fighting stops, leaves open questions about when the UK- and France-led operation can be activated and how it will interact with existing U.S. measures.