Paris Says Working With Allies On European-Led Security Mission In Persian Gulf

France is working with its key EU allies to form a maritime security mission in the Persian Gulf, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2019) France is working with its key EU allies to form a maritime security mission in the Persian Gulf, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt proposed sending a European maritime security force to the region in response to Iran seizing a UK-flagged commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz last week.

"We are participating in a European initiative with the UK and Germany to mount an operation with a mission to enforce and monitor security in the Gulf," Le Drian said in parliament.

He contrasted this plan and the US policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran, saying the European approach was about diplomacy. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that Washington was building a global coalition against Tehran.

The United States has blamed Iran for attacks on several oil tankers in Gulf waters in May and June. The Iranian military captured a UK-flagged tanker in the nearby Strait of Hormuz allegedly for flouting maritime rules, a week after UK marines helped detain an Iranian ship near Gibraltar.