<\/p>\nListen to this article<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>4 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<\/button>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>French President Emmanuel Macron has said France and its allies are preparing a \u201cpurely defensive\u201d mission to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz once the \u201cmost intense phase\u201d of the US-Israeli war on Iran ends.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in Cyprus on Monday, Macron said the \u201cpurely escort mission\u201d must be prepared by both European and non-European countries.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Its purpose \u201cis to enable, as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict has ended, the escort of container ships and tankers to gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz\u201d, the French president said, without providing further details.<\/p>\n<p>Macron\u2019s comments come as global oil prices have surged amid continued attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, as well as retaliatory Iranian missile and drone strikes across the wider region.<\/p>\n<p>The war\u00a0has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic Gulf waterway through which about 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil supplies pass, while Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East also have raised concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to Macron\u2019s comments, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani said, \u201cIt is unlikely that any security will be achieved in the Strait of Hormuz amid the fires of the war ignited by the United States and Israel in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Larijani added in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/alilarijani_ir\/status\/2031017694468747369\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media post<\/a> that security is also unlikely to be restored as a result of plans designed by \u201cparties that were not far removed from supporting this war and contributing to its fanning\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>While European countries have been largely sidelined as the war escalates, several \u2013 including France, the United Kingdom and Greece \u2013 have sent military assets to Cyprus following an Iranian-made drone attack on a British base on the island.<\/p>\n<p>Greece has dispatched four F-16 fighter planes to the Paphos airbase and its two state-of-the-art frigates Kimon and Psara are patrolling offshore Cyprus, tasked with intercepting any missiles or drones.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Macron ordered the French frigate Languedoc to waters off Cyprus to bolster the country\u2019s anti-drone and anti-missile defences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Cyprus is attacked, then Europe is attacked,\u201d Macron said after meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paphos on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The French president said he would also deploy a total of eight warships, two helicopter carriers and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East region, calling the move \u201cunprecedented\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>France\u2019s objective \u201cis to maintain a strictly defensive stance, standing alongside all countries attacked by Iran in its retaliation, to ensure our credibility, and to contribute to regional de-escalation\u201d, Macron said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, we aim to guarantee freedom of navigation and maritime security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sending oil prices soaring, finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries met in Brussels on Monday to discuss how to respond.<\/p>\n<p>Crude oil prices have increased by about 50 percent since the US and Israel launched the war last month, with international benchmark Brent crude prices surpassing $100 a barrel on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told reporters that the G7 ministers did not make a decision on the potential release of emergency oil stocks amid the war. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve agreed upon is to use any necessary tools if need be to stabilise the market, including the potential release of necessary stockpiles,\u201d Lescure said.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Hickin, editor-in-chief and chief economist at Petroleum Economist, said getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened is the main priority. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen in any shape or form until there\u2019s a resolution to the conflict,\u201d Hickin told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that several countries in the Middle East, such as Kuwait and Iraq, are dependent on the strait to get their energy supplies to market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKuwait and Iraq and those producers, they are really having a shut-in, and it will take a little bit of time to get back up and running,\u201d said Hickin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is the big risk, the knock-on effect \u2026 Getting those ships back, getting that infrastructure back up and running, it\u2019s a slow process. So prices won\u2019t come back down as quickly as many may think.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a04 mins info French President Emmanuel Macron has said France and its allies are preparing a \u201cpurely defensive\u201d mission to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz once the \u201cmost intense phase\u201d of the US-Israeli war on Iran ends. Speaking in Cyprus on Monday, Macron said the \u201cpurely escort mission\u201d must be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}