President Emmanuel Macron says France will deploy eight frigates, two amphibious helicopter carriers and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Middle East on a defensive operation. Photo / Jeanne Accorsini, Pool, AFP
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has ordered an “unprecedented” naval deployment in the Middle East to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
France will deploy eight frigates – more than the entire British fleet – along with two amphibious helicopter carriers and the country’s flagship Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Britain is still struggling to send a single warship to Cyprus, where RAF Akrotiri, a United Kingdom military base, was struck by an Iranian-made drone this month.
“We aim to guarantee freedom of navigation and maritime security,” Macron said during a visit to a military air base in Cyprus.
The French vessels are expected to join United States forces aiming to reopen the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is carried, following a series of Iranian attacks.
Oil prices had their biggest one-day jump since the Covid pandemic, prompting Rachel Reeves, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, to warn households of a looming inflation shock.
Prices surged by almost US$20 within minutes of energy markets opening yesterday, sending the cost of Brent crude to almost US$120 a barrel before dropping slightly below US$100.
Saudi Arabia followed Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in cutting back production as local storage tanks filled.
Government borrowing costs also surged as traders speculated that Labour would bail out struggling families, alongside expectations that the Bank of England may have to raise interest rates to keep a lid on inflation.
Share markets also continued to slide amid concerns about a growth slump. Roughly US$6 trillion has been wiped off global stocks since the war began.
United States President Donald Trump has refused to rule out seizing Iranian oil amid reports the White House could order a takeover of Kharg Island, a key oil exporting terminal.
Last week, Trump said that the US Navy could begin escorting tankers through the waterway to get oil moving again.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence announced it had begun “air sorties” over the UAE, and that warplanes had shot down an Iranian drone in the region.
Downing Street also suggested that, despite reports at the weekend to the contrary, Prime Minister Keir Starmer may not deploy HMS Prince of Wales, Britain’s only available aircraft carrier, to the Middle East, despite it being on advanced readiness.
Announcing France’s naval deployment, Macron said: “We are in the process of setting up a purely defensive, purely escort mission, which must be prepared together with both European and non-European states, and whose purpose is to enable, as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict has ended, the escort of container ships and tankers to gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Our objective is to maintain a strictly defensive stance, standing alongside all countries attacked by Iran in its retaliation, to ensure our credibility, and to contribute to regional de-escalation.
“Ultimately, we aim to guarantee freedom of navigation and maritime security.”
Macron was speaking after flying to a military air base in Cyprus to pledge support for the island, a former British colony.
He joined Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s Prime Minister, and Nikos Christodoulides, the Cypriot President, in a choreographed demonstration of European defence determination.
Britain’s naval contribution to protecting Cyprus – HMS Dragon – has yet to leave Portsmouth.
John Healey, the Defence Secretary, told MPs yesterday that the destroyer would “set sail in the next couple of days”.
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said: “Isn’t the reality that Greece, France and Spain are all sending ships and that Labour’s failure to deploy the Royal Navy to the eastern Mediterranean has completely undermined our international standing, not just in the eyes of our many allies in the Middle East, but also in the eyes of those who can now exploit such weakness?”
Healey replied by calling Cartlidge an “armchair general”.
The Royal Navy has six destroyers, but only HMS Dragon is known to be ready for action. It is expected to sail to the region to protect the British sovereign base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus.
Of the fleet’s seven frigates, only HMS Somerset and HMS St Albans are understood to be available. The rest are undergoing maintenance or struggling with defects.
Macron landed at Paphos military airfield in a large presidential plane before being given a tour of the base, followed by talks with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts.
The three leaders then spoke at a press conference in a hangar, standing on a podium against the backdrop of an Airbus military helicopter – a symbol of the French defence industry.
“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” Macron told reporters.
“The defence of Cyprus is obviously a key issue for your country, for your neighbour, partner and friend, Greece, but also for France and, with it, the European Union.”
There was no mention of Britain, despite the gathering of European warships in Cypriot waters being prompted by an attack on a British base.
A French warship, the Languedoc, is already in Cypriot waters, while the Charles de Gaulle carrier is reportedly stationed off the coast of Crete.
Macron, who boarded the carrier later, added: “This mobilisation of our Navy is unprecedented”.
Hubert Faustmann, an expert on Cyprus’ history from the University of Nicosia, told the Telegraph: “The British Government has not been looking good throughout this crisis”.
The French media gleefully seized on Macron’s visit and Britain’s absence.
Paris Match gloated about a report that if Britain decided to send one of its aircraft carriers to the region, it may need an escort by French ships because of the lack of British vessels.
Florent Barraco, the magazine’s political editor, wrote: “With no ships to accompany it [HMS Prince of Wales], the British may ask France for help. What if Napoleon, soundly defeated at Trafalgar in 1805, were to get his posthumous revenge more than 220 years later?”
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