US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will brief the 27 EU foreign ministers on the war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz., his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot told the press on Friday.
The foreign ministers of the G7 countries met near Paris for a two-day summit, almost a month after the US and Israel launched a war against Iran that has spread to the wider Middle East.
“Marco Rubio has agreed to brief the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union,” Barrot said, adding that the foreign ministers will continue to help resolve the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. He did not specify when the conference will take place.
Rubio skipped the first day of the G7 talks, but briefed his Canadian, French, German, Italian, Japanese and British counterparts on the White House’s intentions. lunch session on the ongoing conflict.
After the meeting, Barrot told the press that the US goal was to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities.
Rubio did not make any specific requests to his counterparts regarding the Strait of Hormuz, even though US President Donald Trump has repeatedly asked NATO allies to help secure the sea route. However, en route to France, the US Secretary of State urged his partners to get involved.
Europeans have opposed Trump’s calls, pretending they had not been consulted on the conflict and would not be involved.
But some countries, led by France and the United Kingdom, have begun discussing how to guarantee freedom of navigation after the attacks end.
Iran has repeatedly struck Gulf countries and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s main trade routes for energy shipments.
France said its military chiefs met yesterday with about 35 counterparts to discuss a future initiative to contribute to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities have subsided.
French President Emmanuel Macron first teased the idea of an intergovernmental defense mission during a visit to the Eastern Mediterranean earlier in March.
Foreign ministers are expected to gather in Ukraine next week to commemorate four years since Russia’s attacks on the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
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CORRECTION: This article has been amended to reflect that the foreign ministers will then meet in Ukraine and not in Brussels.
