Trump still furious about NATO: ‘useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!’ |
Trump still furious about NATO: ‘useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!’
The leaders of France and the U.K. on Friday welcomed the announcement by Iran and the U.S. that the Strait of Hormuz is open, but said freedom of navigation must be permanently restored to the key oil route choked by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said they would keep planning an international mission to restore maritime security, which Starmer said will be deployed “as soon as conditions allow.” They said military planners will meet in London next week.
Speaking after a gathering of some 50 countries and international organizations, Macron said “we all demand the full, immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties.”
As the meeting was underway, U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister declared the strait open to commercial vessels. Oil prices plunged after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that passage for commercial vessels would remain “completely open” for the duration of a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.
Trump in an all-caps social media post said that the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ships and ports would remain in force “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”
Starmer cautiously welcomed the announcement, but said it must become “both lasting and a workable proposal.”
The Paris meeting is part of attempts by sidelined nations to ease the impact of a conflict they didn’t start and haven’t joined, but that has sent the global economy reeling. Petroleum prices soared after the war started on Feb. 28, when Iran effectively shut the narrow........