“This meeting allows us to send a simple message: we demand the complete, immediate and unconditional opening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties. We demand the restoration of conditions of free passage in force before the war and we demand total respect for the law of the sea.” Thus the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the end of the Volenterosi coalition meeting in Paris. “We oppose any type of restriction that would effectively correspond to an attempt to privatize the Strait and we oppose any payment,” he reiterated. “We work closely with shipowners, insurers and other maritime professionals to give them the opportunity to understand when traffic can resume,” he added. “Today’s message is a message of hope, but also of unity: Europeans are alongside the Gulf countries” to “ensure international law and freedom of navigation are respected”.
Starmer: “The reopening of Hormuz is long-lasting”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “welcomed” the announcement of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but also urged caution. “We must ensure that the reopening is lasting and feasible,” he said in statements to the press following the meeting of the willing today in Paris, with French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Hence the need for an international mission, which was discussed at the meeting in the French capital, attended by 49 countries.