{"id":7431,"date":"2026-04-19T16:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/7431\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:57:12","slug":"england-france-lead-strictly-defensive-global-summit-on-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/7431\/","title":{"rendered":"England, France lead \u2018strictly defensive\u2019 global summit on Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Kingdom and France gathered more than 50 countries in Paris on Friday for a discussion focused on joint efforts to secure free trade through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer co-chaired the panel. The discussion included representatives from 51 countries, with around 30 to 40 countries joining virtually, according to Al Jazeera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following the meeting, France and the U.K. announced they were launching a \u201cstrictly defensive multinational mission\u201d to protect ships traveling through the critical trading passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe international mission will be strictly defensive, and will operate in full accordance with international law and in consultation with relevant states,\u201d the countries said in a joint statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful to those nations that have indicated their readiness to contribute, whether through military assets, logistical support, financial contributions or political solidarity, and call on all countries with an interest in the free flow of global trade to express their support for this initiative,\u201d they continued.<\/p>\n

The strait has been a major flash point in the Iran war since the U.S. and Israel launched military operations on the country at the end of February. Iranian counterstrikes on U.S. targets in the Gulf states have effectively closed the major oil trading corridor, sending energy rates skyrocketing.<\/p>\n

Tehran announced Friday morning it would reopen the strait<\/a>. President Trump celebrated the news on social media<\/a> on Friday but said the U.S.\u2019s naval blockade<\/a> on the waterway remains intact.<\/p>\n

The U.K. and France hailed the decision in the joint statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right of transit passage without restrictions or tolls is the bedrock of international trade,\u201d officials from the two countries wrote. \u201cFreedom of navigation means navigation must be free. We therefore welcome the announcement today that the Strait will re-open and underline that this must endure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disruption to global energy security, supply chains, and economic and financial stability must end, for the benefit of communities right across the world, in particular for the poorest and most vulnerable,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cWe committed to coordinating our economic responses and to avoid protectionist actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.K. and France will continue to lead this global initiative, and British officials will host the next meeting with international leaders, according to the Friday press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s UK-France led meeting of over 50 countries sends a message to Iran that it is isolated and needs to make a deal,\u201d British Ambassador to the U.S. Christian Turner said in a statement. \u201cFollowing US leadership to reopen the Strait, our new multinational mission will take action to ensure Freedom of Navigation, reassure shipping, and help lower energy prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Updated at 4:04 p.m. EDT<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Kingdom and France gathered more than 50 countries in Paris on Friday for a discussion focused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36,5,1500,2157,6108,5794,5714,340],"class_list":["post-7431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france","tag-international-law","tag-international-trade","tag-logistical-support","tag-multinational-mission","tag-prime-minister-keir-starmer","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}