France and Britain deploy warships near Hormuz but stay out of the fighting

France and Britain are deploying warships around the Strait of Hormuz while drawing a clear line against entering the fighting. The two U.S. allies are helping lead an international maritime-security effort, but neither has moved into the strait itself or taken part in combat.

France is leading a multinational mine-clearance and maritime-security mission involving more than 15 countries alongside Britain. It has sent minehunters, frigates and a maritime-patrol aircraft to the region. The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle sailed from Crete on April 7 for a Middle East mission, and two minehunters were sent to waters off Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.

In an operational update released on the 4th, France’s Defense Ministry said it was operating one multipurpose frigate, two minehunters and one maritime-patrol aircraft in the region. Britain has deployed the landing support ship RFA Lyme Bay, converted to support mine-clearance operations, and the air-defense destroyer HMS Dragon near the Gulf of Oman. British and French forces say they can begin mine-clearance work only after the fighting between the United States and Iran has clearly stopped.

Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Greece have also sent minehunters and related personnel for mine-clearance and merchant-ship escort duties. Denmark, Norway and Portugal have assigned personnel to the European Maritime Security Command based in places including Abu Dhabi. Lithuania’s parliament approved a plan in June to send up to 40 military and civilian personnel to an international mission securing free passage through the strait, but the deployment has not yet taken place.

The NATO allies have voiced political support for the military mission sought by Washington, while attaching conditions that the circumstances required to begin operations must first be established. They have emphasized that military deployments depend on a clearly defined, sustainable ceasefire. Japan, which is watching the developments, continues to say that its constitution makes it difficult to deploy the Self-Defense Forces while the war has not completely ended.