Europe should keep an open mind on helping to ensure freedom of navigation for ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz even if the continent did not support the US-Israeli decision to go to war with Iran, Denmark's foreign minister said on Monday.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration was talking to several countries about protecting ships in the waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic. "We must face the world as it is, not as we want it to be," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told journalists ahead of talks in Brussels with fellow EU foreign ministers on Monday.
The topic could also be raised at an EU summit later this week. "Even if we don't like what's going on, I think it's wise to keep an open mind on whether Europe...in some way can contribute, but with a view towards de-escalation," he said.
He added Denmark had yet to receive any request from the US for help.
Denmark, home to container shipping company Maersk and other maritime groups, in 2024 sent a frigate to the Red Sea to participate in a US-led coalition to safeguard traffic from attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants.
"Denmark is a sea-faring nation and we have in every way an interest in ensuring free navigation," Rasmussen said.
"As the small country that we are, but a large maritime nation, we must remain open to this question." Denmark has previously assisted when the United States sought partners for military operations in the Middle East, but relations have soured over Trump's repeated demands for US control over Greenland.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Barbara Lewis)
