The Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, Kazem Gharibabadi, warned this Sunday that Tehran will react accordingly to any deployment of European forces in the Strait of Hormuz aimed at reinforcing the maritime blockade promoted by the United States in the area.
"The presence of French and British warships, or any other country potentially accompanying the illegal and internationally illicit actions of the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, will receive a decisive and immediate response," the deputy minister has warned.
These statements come one day after sources from the British Ministry of Defence confirmed that the destroyer 'Dragon', belonging to the Royal Navy, will soon begin a deployment in preparation for an eventual international operation to protect merchant traffic in the strait.
According to a spokesperson for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, the vessel will be located "in the Middle East region", ready to integrate into the initiative promoted by London and Paris once hostilities between Iran and US and Israeli forces cease.
Despite a fragile ceasefire being in effect, last Friday, United States military units attacked two Iranian oil tankers that were trying to violate the embargo decreed by US President Donald Trump.
The operation, proposed and promoted by the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, would contemplate the participation of a coalition of countries willing to ensure freedom of passage through the strait, a strategic corridor for the global supply of oil and gas, as well as other goods, including fertilizers.
The Iranian deputy minister has stressed that "the Strait of Hormuz is not a shared property of extra-regional powers", but rather that "it is a sensitive maritime route in the vicinity of coastal governments". In this regard, he has defended that the exercise of sovereignty by the Islamic Republic of Iran over this passage and the definition of its legal framework "is a right of Iran as a coastal country".
"We remind you that, both in times of war and in times of peace, only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait and will not allow any country to intervene in these types of matters," the head of Foreign Affairs concluded.
Macron rules out sending warships to Hormuz without coordination with Iran
During an official visit to Kenya, Macron stated that he does not at all contemplate sending combat naval units to the area without prior understanding with the Iranian authorities.
"The possibility of a deployment was never raised, but we are prepared," Macron indicated, underlining that his cooperation with the United Kingdom pursues as its central objective "the resumption of maritime traffic as soon as conditions allow," although always "in a coordinated manner with Iran, with all the countries of the region and the United States."
The French president has insisted that France rejects any attempt at blockade by any of the actors involved and has called for freedom of navigation through the strait to be guaranteed.