International mission for Strait of Hormuz ‘will be necessary’ – France backs action for navigation security in Gulf

"Group of Seven (G7) countries on Thursday adopted a declaration calling for an immediate cessation of attacks on civilian populations while highlighting the need to ‘permanently restore free and safe navigation’ in the Strait of Hormuz. “Nothing justifies deliberately targeting civilians during armed conflicts, nor carrying out attacks against diplomatic facilities,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told journalists after the G7 meeting in Paris on Friday. “We have agreed to continue our efforts to help resolve the situation in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. He said France had been in talks with countries, including India and Saudi Arabia, on the partial closure of the critical waterway in the Persian Gulf, stressing that it is ‘out of the question’ for international waters to be restricted for navigation due to conflicts that do not involve the countries reliant on these routes. “France has shown its willingness […] to build an international mission enabling freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, once calm has returned,” he added. He said: “It will be necessary in one way or another for this international mission proposed by the president of the republic to intervene in compliance with international law and the law of the sea.” Barrot said that while the meeting discussed other conflict-stricken areas such as Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti, he emphasised that the war in the Middle East must not overshadow the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza peace plan. He said that France wishes that the mediation efforts could “produce results for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, for de-escalation.” On Russia, the foreign minister said the country was facing military, economic, and strategic failure in Ukraine, citing heavy battlefield losses and a weakening economy. “Russia’s operation has run into the wall of Ukrainian resistance,” he declared, adding that Moscow is also losing key allies, deepening its strategic setbacks. The two-day G7 foreign ministers' meeting focused on the wars in Iran and Ukraine. The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and US assets in the region, with the conflict now into its fourth week. Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have also traded cross-border strikes."

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