France is pushing on with efforts to put together a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilises, two French officials said on Friday, after a report suggested Paris was negotiating safe passage for its ships.
Militarily impotent European states have been largely sidelined as the US-Israeli war on Iran has escalated, with Iran carrying out strikes against Israel, US bases and Persian Gulf states.
But with shipping lanes affected and the conflict pushing up oil prices, European powers are trying to work out how to defend their interests.
France has been consulting with European, Asian and Gulf Arab states over the past week with a view to putting together a plan for warships eventually to escort tankers through the strait.
"In the current context the conditions don't allow for any mission to deploy forces, but we are initially working on the diplomacy so we can then enter into details and eventually it can become operational," said one official.
The Financial Times reported that France and Italy were seeking to negotiate a deal to guarantee safe passage for their ships through the strait.
The French presidency did not respond to a request for comment. An Italian foreign ministry source denied the report.
"In their diplomatic contacts, Italian leaders want to favour the conditions for a general military de-escalation, but there is no under-the-table negotiation aimed at preserving only some merchant ships at the expense of others," the source said.
The European Union's main naval activities in the region centre on Aspides, a Red Sea naval mission launched in 2024 to guard vessels from attack by Iran-aligned Houthi terrorists.
France already provides one warship to that mission and President Emmanuel Macron has said there will be two in total. In all, he said, France will deploy eight warships, its aircraft carrier strike group and two helicopter carriers to the region.
That could ultimately include the Strait of Hormuz to support commercial vessels, Macron said this week.
France has maintained direct and indirect contacts with Iran. The presidents and foreign ministers have spoken and Paris has kept its Tehran embassy open.
A French official said efforts were focused on the coalition rather than a way of securing safe passage for French ships.
There have been discussions with several European partners, India, Gulf Arab states, Canada and others, but nothing is close to being finalised, with India showing some resistance, two diplomatic sources said.
"The French want to disassociate themselves from the American approach because at the end you will need to have a minimum approval from Iran," said a European diplomat.
The idea was not to do it by force, which some American officials have suggested, the diplomat said.
(Reporting by John Irish in Paris, Chandni Shah in Bengaluru and Angelo Amante in Rome; Writing by John Irish, Editing by Toby Chopra)
