Leading European nations and Japan have signalled readiness to support efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said earlier that the vital waterway must remain open for global trade.
In a joint statement issued today, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan condemned recent attacks by Iran and called on Tehran to halt its actions immediately.
The countries pledged to take steps to stabilise energy markets amid disruptions and expressed readiness to join “appropriate efforts” to secure safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported today.
The statement comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the region, including Iran’s obstruction of the strait — a critical chokepoint for approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies — following military exchanges involving the US, Israel and Iran.
Rutte’s comments follow US President Donald Trump’s calls during the weekend of March 15 for international partners to contribute warships or other support to escort tankers and re-open the strait.
Initially, most countries in Europe reacted negatively to that. Germany and Greece made clear they would not contribute naval forces to any mission aimed at securing or re-opening the critical waterway.
With the latest attack on critical energy infrastructure last night, countries such as Germany seem to have changed their mind.
“We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,” the group wrote in their statement. “We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.”
They condemned the attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.
They called on Iran to “cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817”.
The countries warned that the actions of Iran would hurt people in the entire world, especially the most vulnerable and stressed the importance of freedom of navigation on international waters.
Following an Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field, the world’s largest, yesterday, Iran launched retaliatory attacks on energy sites in Qatar and other Gulf states, damaging international energy supplies.
In response, Trump posted on his Truth Social website that the US had no prior knowledge of the Israeli action and stated that Israel would refrain from further strikes on South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar again.
He explicitly warned: “In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”
He added that he did not wish to authorise such destruction due to its long-term implications for Iran but would not hesitate if Qatar’s LNG facilities were targeted again.
Trump has also warned western allies, particularly those in NATO, that the alliance’s future could be jeopardised if they fail to assist in securing or reopening the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.
