EU cautious on Trump’s Hormuz proposal
European countries on Monday demanded to know more about US President Donald Trump’s plans for the war on Iran and when the conflict might end as they weighed whether to agree to his call to send warships to help shore up security in the Persian Gulf. Trump has asked allies - including France, China, Japan, South Korea and Britain - to help secure the strait for global shipping.
He said the US was talking to “about seven” countries for military support to help reopen the trade route. But he wouldn’t say which ones and gave no indication of when such a coalition might be formed.
Separately, in an interview with the Financial Times, he warned that “if there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”
As European Union foreign ministers gathered to discuss Trump’s demand, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said it’s important for the United States and Israel to define “when they consider the military aims of their deployment to have been reached.”
“We need more clarity here,” Wadephul told reporters.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson, Stefan Kornelius, said, “This war has nothing to do with NATO - it is not NATO’s war. NATO is an alliance to defend the alliance area.”
Kornelius said that Berlin “took note” of Trump’s comments, but he added: “The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for NATO or the German government.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also said that US allies in Europe want to understand Trump’s “strategic goals. What will be the plan?”
Their reactions were typical of the cautious response that many in Europe have shown to the US-Israeli war on Iran, although few allies in Europe have openly opposed it. Trump has described his demand for help in the Strait as “a very small endeavour.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski invited the Trump administration to go through the proper channels. “If there is a request via NATO, we will of course out of respect and sympathy for our American allies, consider it very carefully,” he said.
Sikorski made a reference to Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allies can invoke if they believe their territory or security is under threat.
As she headed in to chair the meeting of ministers in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that “it is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and that’s why we are also discussing what we can do in this regard from the European side.”
Kallas said the EU could expand its Operation Aspides naval mission to protect shipping in the Red Sea up into the Persian Gulf.
If no agreement is found among the 27 EU countries, those who stand ready to go it alone could form a “coalition of the willing” and provide military support on an ad hoc basis.
The war in Iran, sparked on February 28, airstrikes by Israel and the US, has driven up energy prices worldwide, with brent crude up more than 40 per cent.
But the conflict has also disrupted the wider global supply chain beyond oil, affecting everything from pharmaceuticals from India, semiconductors from Asia and oil-derived products like fertilisers that come from the Middle East.
Cargo ships are stuck in the Gulf or making a much longer detour around the southern tip of Africa. Planes carrying air cargo out of the Middle East are grounded. And the longer the war drags on, the more likely that there will be shortages and price increases on a wide range of goods.
France has said it is working with countries - President Emmanuel Macron mentioned partners in Europe, India and Asia - on a possible international mission to escort ships through the strait but has stressed it must be when “the circumstances permit,” when fighting has subsided. French senior officials, speaking anonymously on ongoing talks, said the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece had shown interest and that Spain might be involved in some way. In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain “will not be drawn into the wider war, “ but that it is discussing with the US and allies in Europe and the Gulf the possibility of using mine-hunting drones that the UK already has in the region. But he signalled that Britain is unlikely to dispatch a warship.
EU’s refugee concerns
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Operation Aspides was formed to thwart attacks to shipping in the Red Sea by Somali pirates and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have yet to join the current fray. Saudi Aramco manages a pipeline network that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz to deliver oil to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu.
“If we want to have security in this region, then it would be easiest to actually already use the operation that we have in the region and maybe change a bit,” Kallas said.
“There is also talk of a coalition of the willing in this regard, but we also need to see what could be the fastest to provide this opening for the Strait of Hormuz, but of course, as you can see, it’s not easy.”
The EU is anxious that a potential refugee crisis in Iran will develop if the war continues.
“Although for now, the conflict has not translated into immediate migratory flows toward the EU, what the future holds remains unclear and necessitates the full mobilization of every migration diplomacy tool we have at our disposal,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement Sunday.
