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Paris aims to advance the Franco-British initiative for navigation safety in the strait, which is vital to world trade.
Faced with the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and American vacillations, Paris aims to impose the Franco-British initiative to secure this vital artery of world trade.
France is moving closer to the Middle East theater of operations. The French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" and its accompanying ships will pass the Suez Canal on Wednesday to position themselves in the Gulf region, in case a mission, promoted by London and Paris, is activated to restore navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
"The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort ships will transit the Suez Canal on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, heading south towards the Red Sea," the French Ministry of the Armed Forces said in a statement. The naval group is thus approaching the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil corridor that has been blocked by Iran since the start of the war in late February.
Paris is continuing to structure the Franco-British initiative, launched in mid-April by Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, in which around fifty countries, but not the United States, participate, with the aim of ensuring navigation in the strait. The movement of the aircraft carrier thus aims to "reduce the deadlines for the implementation of this initiative as soon as circumstances allow", specifies the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Conditions for Washington and Tehran
In mid-April, the French president declared that this “neutral” and “clearly separate from the belligerent parties” operation could only be activated once hostilities had ceased. According to the Élysée Palace, the deployment of the “Charles de Gaulle” in the Red Sea is intended to give a “signal” that France is ready to launch its security mission. Ready, yes, but to set the operation in motion, Paris is setting its own conditions. For its part, Tehran must “commit to negotiations on its nuclear and ballistic programs, as well as on its role in the region, in exchange for which we will allow the passage of their tankers,” the Élysée Palace declared.
As for Washington, the United States must "secure an agreement that Iran agrees to sit at the negotiating table" so that Tehran lifts the blockade on the strait.
In this context, while hundreds of ships still remain blocked in the Persian Gulf, Paris calls on the warring parties to "treat the issue of Hormuz separately" from the rest of the conflict and negotiations, as "it is in the common interest."
Suspension of the American operation
“The movement of the naval air group is separate from the military operations launched in the region and complements the security mechanism,” the French Ministry reiterated on Wednesday. According to it, the presence near the Gulf will enable “a preliminary assessment of the regional operational environment pending the activation of the initiative” and “the provision of additional options for exiting the crisis, with the aim of strengthening security in the region.”
The Charles de Gaulle's move comes at a carefully timed moment. On Tuesday evening, a container ship belonging to the French company CMA-CGM was hit by an Iranian missile near the Strait of Hormuz. We learned this Wednesday that the ship was under American escort as it passed through the strait, as part of Operation Project Freedom, launched by Donald Trump the day before.
The attack, which the Republican president has not spoken about publicly, led to the suspension of US escort operations. This pause was decided, "at the request of Pakistan and other countries", according to Trump, to see if a deal with Iran could be "finalized", after "great progress", according to him, in view of the resumption of negotiations.
For Paris, this situation at Washington's disadvantage has become an opportunity: that of diplomatically advancing its own solution to unblock the Strait of Hormuz. In this logic, the deployment of the "Charles de Gaulle", the flagship of the French Navy that carries around twenty Rafale fighter jets and is accompanied by several frigates, aims to further strengthen this alternative. /Pamphlet/
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