EU foreign ministers will discuss extending a Red Sea naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz to secure the oil and gas chokepoint closed by the Iran war.
BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers will on Monday discuss extending the bloc’s Red Sea naval mission to help reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.
The Iran war has virtually halted activity in the key waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s crude supplies and a substantial amount of gas, sending oil prices soaring.
“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,” Kallas told journalists in Brussels ahead of the talks.
An option on the table would be to change the mandate of the EU’s existing naval mission in the Red Sea, Operation Aspides, according to Kallas.
She suggested this would be the “fastest” way for the 27-member bloc to boost security in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian retaliatory attacks to a US-Israeli bombing campaign have largely halted maritime traffic.
“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,” she said.
It remained to be seen whether all EU member states were willing to use the mission for that purpose, Kallas added.
A “coalition of the willing” among member states could also be considered as an alternative, Kallas noted without providing further details.
Launched in 2024 to prevent attacks on trade vessels by Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces, Operation Aspides currently deploys three warships from France, Greece and Italy.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that Paris and its allies were preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the strait.
Macron has also pledged to increase France’s contribution to Aspides with two additional frigates “over the long term”.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump urged NATO allies to help open the Strait of Hormuz, warning the alliance faced a “very bad” future if they did not.
The Sun Malaysia
