By Michel Rose and John Irish
PARIS/LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) – NATO allies said on Monday they would not get involved in U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to blockade the Strait of Hormuz nL6N40V09S, proposing instead to intervene only once fighting ends, in a move likely to anger Trump and increase strains in the alliance.
Trump said the U.S. military would work with other countries to block all maritime traffic in the waterway, after weekend talks failed to reach an agreement to end the six-week conflict with Iran https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/. The U.S. military later specified that the blockade nL4N40W08K, due to have started at 1400 GMT on Monday, would only apply to ships going to or from Iranian ports.
Since the start of the war on February 28, Iran has largely blocked off the strait for all ships apart from its own. It has been seeking to make its control of the strait permanent and possibly collect levies from ships that use it.
“The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
But NATO allies including Britain and France said they would not be drawn into the conflict by taking part in the blockade, saying instead they were working on an initiative to open the waterway, where a fifth of global oil supplies normally pass.
Their refusal to participate is yet another point of friction with Trump, who has threatened to withdraw from the military alliance and is weighing pulling some U.S. troops from Europe nL1N40S0YV after several countries denied U.S. military planes use of their airspace for attacks on Iran.
CONSIDERABLE PRESSURE
“We’re not supporting the blockade,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the BBC.
“My decision has been very clearly that whatever the pressure, and there’s been some considerable pressure, we’re not getting dragged into the war,” he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told European governments nL6N40S0SC that Trump wants concrete commitments in the near future to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, diplomats told Reuters last week.
NATO could play a role in the strait if its 32 members could agree on the formation of a mission, Rutte said on April 9.
Several European countries have said they’re willing to help in the strait but only once there is a durable end to hostilities and an agreement with Iran that their ships will not be attacked.
France will organise a conference with Britain and other countries to create a multinational mission to restore navigation in the strait, French President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Monday.
“This strictly defensive mission, distinct from the belligerents, will be deployed as soon as the situation allows,” Macron said.
A meeting to draw up plans for the mission could happen as soon as Thursday in Paris or London, said a French diplomatic source.
The initiative involving about 30 countries, including Gulf countries, India, Greece, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, aims to establish rules for safe passage and the coordination of military vessels to escort tankers, the source said.
Those military ships would provide reassurance without being belligerent, the source said, adding that Iran and the U.S. would be informed of the mission but play no direct part.
Britain is working on ways to reduce insurance premiums for ships passing through the strait once the fighting has stopped, according to a senior European official.
The Strait of Hormuz should be reopened by diplomacy, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday, adding that creating an international force to oversee it would be complicated. He called for NATO to reset its ties with Trump at a summit in Ankara in July.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti, John Irish and Michel Rose; writing by Charlie DevereuxEditing by Keith Weir and Peter Graff)
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