Britain Wins Early EU Support for Hormuz Naval Operations

The British government’s proposal for an international fleet to patrol the Strait of Hormuz to protect oil tankers has gotten some preliminary support, with diplomats saying France, Italy, and Denmark all gave some preliminary support.

That’s not to say those nations are going to provide any warships to this operation. Iran has promised to protect the Strait of Hormuz going forward, in comments with France, and that likely being done with an eye toward convincing France there is no crisis to get involved in.

Britain came up with this proposal after last week, when Iran captured a British oil tanker in the Strait. Though British officials acted like this was out of the blue, in reality Britain had seized an Iranian tanker earlier this month, and this was retaliation.

The proposal for an EU-led fleet that Britain offered mirrors a long-standing US proposal, except that US officials insisted that America would be in charge of a foreign-provided fleet. The US got no support, but Britain is getting a little, at least from EU nations.