France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and accompanying warships are moving closer to the Strait of Hormuz in preparation for a possible mission to restore navigation in the key thoroughfare, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The fleet has passed through the Suez Canal and is heading for the southern Red Sea, the ministry added in a statement.
Traffic in the strategic waterway, through which around one-fifth of the world's crude oil normally transits, has all but stopped since conflict erupted in the Middle East in late February.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are leading a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which they say would be entirely defensive and only deployed once lasting peace in the region was agreed.
The deployment is intended to shorten the response time for the multi-national naval mission.
