France Dispatches Carrier Strike Group to the Mideast
Following the indefinite suspension of the U.S. security corridor for the Strait of Hormuz, France has dispatched its aircraft carrier through the Suez Canal in order to prepare for a possible post-conflict peacekeeping mission in the strategic waterway. The deployment follows shortly after an Iranian strike on a French-operated boxship, the feeder CMA CGM San Antonio, which resulted in injuries for eight crewmembers. sd
The carrier Charles De Gaulle would be one element of a European-led security task force for a post-conflict scenario. To get there, the U.S. and Iran would have to agree to resume detailed diplomatic negotiations on thorny issues, like Iran's continued possession of 400 kilos of high-enriched uranium, while also agreeing to mutual de-escalation in the strait. President Donald Trump has already taken one step in this direction by "pausing" Project Freedom, the newly-created and now canceled U.S. security corridor; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have thanked the president for the pause, seeing it as a way to increase the odds of successful peace negotiations with Iran.
If this occurs, a French diplomat told Reuters, both sides would gradually relax their respective blockades in the strait and allow traffic to resume - Iranian traffic included. Iran would retain its nuclear program and uranium stockpile during this phase, and those items would be at the center of the negotiations.
"Under these conditions we could deploy the multinational force to secure the convoys crossing the Strait of Hormuz and this obviously requires that the Iranians not fire on the ships," the French official told Reuters, while acknowledging that at present the coalition does not have consent from either party for a European security mission.
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"Faced with the evolving international context in the Strait of Hormuz, the French carrier strike group is now heading towards the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden," said France's Joint Staff in a statement. "[This is a]resolutely defensive initiative, fully in line with international law."
The question of post-conflict control over the waterway could be complex. Iran has indicated that it wants to charge tolls and administer passage through the Strait of Hormuz, using the revenue as a form of reparations for the damage caused by recent U.S. and Israeli strikes. This week, state news agencies announced the formation of a new "Persian Gulf Strait Authority" to formally impose Iranian rules on international navigation through the waterway. According to Al Jazeera reporter Ali Hashem, the new agency has emailed a list of requirements to shipowners, including arrangement for payment (in Iranian rials); restrictions on traffic for countries that were involved in the U.S./Israeli war; and use of the term "Persian Gulf" on all documents. Penalties for noncompliance could include seizure or a fine of up to 20 percent of cargo value - a vast sum for a VLCC.
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