French warship moves towards Red Sea as Paris eyes Hormuz mission

French aircraft carrier is heading south of the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea in preparation for a possible mission aimed at restoring “confidence among shipowners” operating in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically critical waterway that has been effectively blocked amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

The French Ministry of Armed Forces said on Wednesday the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle was en route to the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s traded oil transited prior to the war.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are leading a multinational mission towards restoring freedom of navigation in the strait, which they say would be entirely defensive and deployed only once the war ended.

“[It] may help restore confidence among shipowners and insurers,” Macron said on X. “It remains distinct from the parties at war.”

Macron, who spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday, said he also intends to raise the matter with United States President Donald Trump.