A British-French plan to secure the Strait of Hormuz would give the continent a role. But Tehran and Washington are still calling the shots.
The truce appeared to mostly hold even as Israel said it had carried out strikes on what it called “terrorists” approaching its forces in southern Lebanon. Separately, a U.N. peacekeeper was killed.
On a day when both Iran and the United States declared the Strait of Hormuz opened, hopes for an agreement rose. But statements from President Trump and Iranian leaders about negotiations were sometimes at odds.
Amid conflicting reports about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, European leaders gathered on Friday to coordinate a plan to guard it.
European countries declined to take part in the action, which is designed to pressure Iran into making concessions by cutting off its oil income.
President Emmanuel Macron of France expressed disapproval about President Trump’s handling of the war against Iran on Thursday, chastising him for speaking cavalierly in a speech.
President Trump faces the possibility that at the end of his own two-to-three week window for wrapping up the war in Iran, nothing much will have changed.
President Emmanuel Macron of France is among several European officials to speak out about the accumulated effect of President Trump’s criticisms of NATO and his war in Iran.
President Trump has urged China, Britain, France, Japan and South Korea to send warships to help reopen the waterway, even though they are not involved in the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.
Allies have rushed to defend the Mediterranean nation, where the drone hit a British base. Some Cypriots wonder why the bases are still there.