France and the UK will organise a conference with partners ready to contribute to a peaceful multinational mission to help restore navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron said.
In a post on X, Macron stressed “the need to restore free and unimpeded navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as quickly as possible”.
He called for a “peaceful multinational mission” adding: “This strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit”. France and the UK have in recent years been working to set up an operation that would allow ships to cross the Strait of Hormuz once the fighting ends.
Starmer says UK doesn't support Trump's Iran blockade
London: Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday said Britain will not be part of a US blockade of Iranian ports in response to the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. Starmer said “we're not supporting the blockade” and “we’re not getting dragged into the war”.
He said UK efforts remain focused on reopening the key shipping route, the closure of which has sent prices for oil and other commodities soaring. Starmer spoke after US President Donald Trump said Britain would send minesweepers to the strait. Britain said it might help with mine-clearing in the waterway, but only after the fighting stops.
Starmer said all Britain’s military capability is focused on getting the strait “fully open”. The UK is working with dozens of other countries on plans to restore security to shipping through the key oil route after the conflict.
Germany says peace talks not well prepared
Berlin: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday criticised the peace talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan last week as not well prepared. “I was not surprised by the decision to break off the talks in Islamabad,” he told reporters in Berlin on Monday.
“From the very beginning, I didn't get the impression that they were really well prepared,” the chancellor said without further elaborating who exactly he was referring to with this criticism.
Pope Leo takes on Trump, says peace appeal rooted in gospel
Vatican City: Pope Leo XIV pushed back on Monday against President Donald Trump’s broadside against him over the US-Israel war in Iran, saying the Vatican’s appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel, and that he didn’t fear the Trump administration.
“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo said aboard the papal plane. And I'm sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today,” he said.
History's first US-born pope stressed that he was not making a direct attack against Trump or anyone else with his general appeal for peace and criticisms of the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fuelling the Iran war and other conflicts around the world.
Also read: They failed to gain trust: Iran blames US for failed peace talks
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