What to know about the demining and escort mission that US allies want for the Strait of Hormuz

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — The naval mission for the Strait of Hormuz that U.S. allies are proposing as a follow-up to a deal to end the Iran war would aim to reassure crews and shipping insurers that vessels can safely navigate the narrow waterway again, by removing any explosive mines and potentially providing military escorts.

France and Britain have been working on the plans for months. French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea back in March when the war was raging, saying warships could escort tankers and container ships through the maritime chokepoint when the conflict dies down.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Macron on Monday at the Group of Seven summit that he doesn’t see a need for “much help” because the strait is “going to be open” thanks to the tentative deal with Iran.

“But I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a ship or two up here from a few countries. You’d be a great country to do it,” Trump told the French leader.

Here’s a closer look at the envisioned mission that U.S. allies are pitching to speed the return of oil and gas supplies:

US allies float it as a next step to the Iran deal

In a statement welcoming the framework deal that would extend the U.S.-Iran tentative ceasefire and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. allies said they “are committed to playing our part” to urgently reopen the waterway “with unconditional and unrestricted freedom of navigation.”

The statement was issued by France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Italy, later joined by Canada — all members, with the United States, of the G7 club of nations.

They proposed “a strictly defensive and independent mission to reassure commercial shipping and conduct mine clearance operations.”

How they say it could work

France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, is already in the region. Macron dispatched it first to the eastern Mediterranean in early March and then onward through the Suez Canal to the Arabian Sea.

Other nations deployed in the region that could quickly help include the Netherlands, Italy and the U.K., Macron said.

The French leader told Trump that French fighter aircraft could take part in observation missions over the vital waterway as soon as Tuesday, followed “within 48 hours” by frigates “and within two to three days, the aircraft carrier.”

“Of course, all this supposes that it is desired and requested,” Macron said. “Perhaps it will not be wanted and perhaps it will not be necessary. But in any case, it reflects our willingness to help.”

Mine-clearing vessels would aim to rid the waterway of those underwater dangers for shipping that can be rocket-propelled, cabled or sit on the seabed and be triggered by sound, movement or light.

Trump said mines have been found and that efforts to locate others continue but that the strait “is already partially opened.”

The U.K.’s Royal Navy has made a point of showing off the specialist expertise it could offer, welcoming reporters aboard a vessel, the RFA Lyme Bay, as it waited off the coast of Gibraltar last month to be deployed.

Allies have escort-mission experience

French, American, British and other naval crews already have experience of escorting civilian ships through hostile fire in the region. They previously defended cargo vessels through attacks in the Red Sea carried out by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

French frigates used machine guns, cannons and sophisticated air-defense missiles to fend off Houthi strikes. The French frigate Alsace downed three ballistic missiles in the Red Sea in 2024 as it was escorting a container ship. The ship’s commander at the time, Capt. Jérôme Henry, told the AP that being on the receiving end of the potentially deadly strikes was unnerving and exhausting. The sea battles also took a toll on U.S. Navy ships and personnel.

If deployed in the Strait of Hormuz, naval crews would be hoping for fewer dangers if the ceasefire holds. But with Iran still believed to be armed with stocks of missiles, drones and other weaponry, warships’ defensive systems could be used to fend off any attacks if the ceasefire breaks down.

“Once there is a ceasefire, the need for a naval mission is significantly reduced,” said Max Bergmann, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

“A U.K.-French naval presence will no doubt have some security benefits. It might raise the stakes for Iran to rekindle the war; it demonstrates European commitment to Gulf states; and it might reassure shipping and insurance companies,” he said. “But we should not overstate its utility.”

Joint French-British planning for the mission has involved nations as far afield as Australia, South Korea and Japan, Bahrain and Qatar in the Gulf, Canada, and more than a dozen in Europe.

A meeting of defense ministers and other representatives that France and Britain convened last month about the plans brought together 38 countries.

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Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Evian-Les-Bains contributed.

John Leicester, The Associated Press

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