French, UK defense chiefs eye 'real progress' in Hormuz plan
Britain and France Thursday voiced hope that a military plan to protect the Strait of Hormuz was coming together and would succeed in restoring trade flows through the vital passage.
At a two-day meeting in London, a dedicated operational planning group on Wednesday presented a decision brief to military planners for a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the key waterway, top defence officials said.
"We are confident that real progress can be made," UK defence minister John Healey and his counterpart French minister for armed forces, Catherine Vautrin, said in a joint statement on Thursday.
"By building on our common purpose, strengthening multinational coordination and setting the conditions for effective collective action, we can help reopen the Strait, stabilise the global economy and protect our people."
The conference is taking place at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in northwest London, the UK's command centre for overseeing and managing joint military operations.
"Turning diplomatic momentum into action demands sharp planning, frank discussion and firm commitments from allied and partner nations," Healey and Vautrin added.
They recalled the "severe economic consequences" the blockade of the Strait has beyond the Gulf region, warning it was "hitting working people and particularly the most vulnerable in our societies".
Iran vowed Wednesday it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States continues to blockade Iranian ports.
Last week British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired international talks on the strategic strait in Paris bringing together more than 50 countries.
Starmer said more than a dozen countries have agreed to participate in the mission to free up navigation in Hormuz.
The tense standoff of the waterway has dominated the ceasefire in the Middle East war.
With the ceasefire due to expire earlier this week, U S. President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension at the eleventh hour, to allow more time for peace talks brokered by Pakistan.
Iran has said it welcomed the efforts by Pakistan but made no other comment on Trump's announcement.
While strikes around the region have mostly ceased since the truce began, there has been no letup in the pressure around the crucial trade route, with the two sides exercising their economic leverage in a bid to force the other to back down.
Before the war started on February 28, about a fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the Strait.