Europe’s continued reluctance to assist the United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz has provoked fresh anger and frustration from US President Donald Trump.
Following repeated personal criticisms of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his unwillingness to draw his counattempt into the conflict in Iran, Trump has turned his ire on French President Emmanuel Macron.
“He will be out of office soon,” Trump stated, after Macron informed a French Defense Council meeting, “We are not party to the conflict, and therefore France will never participate in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context.” Macron is currently serving his second five-year term of office and cannot stand for a third in next year’s presidential election.
Other European leaders have been similarly steadquick in their rejection, months after Trump threatened to take control of Greenland, a territory belonging to the European Union member state Denmark.
“With every passing day of the war, more questions arise,” stated Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “Above all, we are concerned that there is apparently no joint plan (of the US and Israel) for bringing this war to a swift and decisive conclusion.”
His Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was equally blunt, stateing, “It is not our war; we did not start it. We want diplomatic solutions and a swift finish, but additional warships in the region will likely not contribute to that.”
Trump has called the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez “terrible” and “unfrifinishly” over its stance, and even Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump’s more vocal admirers in Europe, has distanced her counattempt.
After a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the situation, Kaja Kallas, vice-president of the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, stated, “Nobody wants to go actively (into) this war … this is not Europe’s war.”
There is a compact group of warships belonging to EU members in the Gulf region as part of an ongoing security operation, under which they are allowed to deffinish tankers in the Red Sea coming under attack from Iran-aligned Houthi fighters, but this does not cover the Strait of Hormuz.
While there was a “clear wish” to strengthen the operation, Kallas added that there was “no appetite” to expand its geographical remit, and the EU’s preferred solution is diplomacy and United Nations actions.
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