French President Emmanuel Macron [L] and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer [R] faced Iranian warnings over Hormuz after Paris denied plans to send warships into the strategic waterway. [Getty]
French President Emmanuel Macron has denied that France planned to send warships directly into the Strait of Hormuz after Iran warned Paris and London of a “decisive and immediate response” to any military deployment in the strategic waterway.
Speaking during an official visit to Kenya on Sunday, Macron said France had “never envisaged” deploying naval forces into the strait itself, insisting discussions had focused instead on a broader maritime security mission coordinated with Iran and regional states.
“There was never any question of a deployment, but we are ready,” Macron told reporters in Nairobi.
He said France and Britain were leading an ad hoc international mission involving around 50 countries and organisations aimed at restoring maritime traffic “in a coordinated way with Iran and by deconflicting the situation with all the countries of the region and the United States”.
Macron also reiterated his opposition to any blockade or toll system in the Strait of Hormuz, saying freedom of navigation through the waterway was non-negotiable.
The comments came hours after Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, warned that any French or British naval deployment alongside US forces would trigger a military response from Tehran.
“They are strongly advised not to complicate the situation further,” Gharibabadi wrote on X.
He said only Iran had the right to guarantee security in the strait “in times of war and peace”, rejecting what he described as interference by extra-regional powers.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not the common property of extra-regional powers,” he added.
Iranian officials also warned countries complying with US sanctions or participating in efforts to pressure Tehran could face difficulties passing through the strait—one of the world’s most strategically important shipping lanes, through which roughly a fifth of global oil trade normally passes.
In a further escalation, the secretary-general of Iran’s Maritime Shipping and Related Services Union, Masoud Polmeh, claimed on Monday that all Arab Gulf ports had effectively stopped operating due to the disruption in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“All ports in the countries south of the Gulf have stopped working,” he said, according to Iranian media.
Polmeh claimed that around 110 oil, gas, and petroleum product tankers had previously passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, but that the number had now fallen to “zero per day”.
He also pointed to the impact on Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, one of the region’s largest shipping hubs, saying the paralysis of major Gulf ports was spreading economic disruption and commercial inactivity across the region.
“When ships do not pass through the Strait of Hormuz, entry and exit to the ports of regional countries stop, and their commercial activities are disrupted,” he said.
France had earlier announced that its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle had passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea in preparation for a possible multinational maritime mission in the region.
Britain also announced the deployment of the destroyer HMS Dragon as part of “prudent planning” for a future international effort to secure navigation in Hormuz once conditions allow.
British and French officials have stressed the deployments were intended as pre-positioning measures rather than direct intervention inside the strait itself.
According to British officials, more than 40 countries are expected to take part in discussions on a possible multinational maritime coalition led by London and Paris to restore confidence in commercial shipping through the Gulf.
The issue has become increasingly urgent since Iran tightened restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz during the war with the United States and Israel, contributing to sharp rises in oil prices and disruption to global shipping.
The United States responded by imposing its own blockade of Iranian ports and launching the short-lived “Project Freedom” naval operation aimed at escorting commercial vessels through the strait.
US President Donald Trump has since threatened a broader military and naval campaign dubbed “Project Freedom Plus” after rejecting Tehran’s latest response to Washington’s ceasefire proposal.
