The leaders of France and the U.K. will gather dozens of countries — but not the United States — on Friday (April 17, 2026) to push forward plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
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. After the war started on Feb. 28, Iran effectively shut the narrow strait through which a fifth of the world's oil usually passes.
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The U.S. is not part of the planning for what has been branded the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Freedom of Navigation Initiative. In a post on X ahead of Friday's (April 17) conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said the mission to provide security for shipping through the strait would be “strictly defensive,” limited to non-belligerent countries and deployed “when security conditions allow.”
Mr. Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have spearheaded international efforts to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran, which Mr. Starmer has accused of “holding the world's economy to ransom.” U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a retaliatory American blockade of Iranian ports has raised the economic jeopardy even higher.
