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Paris– <\/span>The leaders of France and Britain will gather on Friday with dozens of countries \u2013 but not the United States \u2013 to advance reopening plans. Strait of Hormuz,<\/a> A major oil route was blocked US-Israel war on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Paris meeting is part of efforts by marginalized countries to mitigate the impact of a conflict they did not start and are not involved in, but which The global economy is faltering<\/a>. After the war began on February 28, Iran effectively closed the narrow strait through which a fifth of the world’s oil typically passes.<\/p>\n The US is not part of the plan known as the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Navigation Freedom Initiative. In a post on X before Friday’s conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said the mission to provide security for shipping through the strait would be “strictly defensive”, limited to non-belligerent countries and deployed “when security conditions permit”.<\/p>\n Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have led international efforts to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran, which Starmer has accused of “holding the world economy to ransom.” US President Donald Trump announces retaliatory action Blockade of Iranian ports<\/a> The economic crisis has increased even more.<\/p>\n “Unconditionally and urgently reopening the strait is a global responsibility and we need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again,” Starmer said ahead of the meeting.<\/p>\n France and Britain have also led military planning meetings, echoing the “coalition of the willing” assembled to provide security for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in that war.<\/p>\n French military spokesman Colonel Guillaume Vernet said Thursday that the mission was still “under construction.” <\/p>\n Macron’s office said the participants would “each contribute according to their capabilities”, stressing options to ensure safe passage through the strait will depend on the security situation after a permanent ceasefire. <\/p>\n “The important thing is that ship operators have all the means to ensure that their ships will not be harmed if they pass through the strait. This may require intelligence, mine-clearing capabilities, military escort, communication procedures with coastal states, etc.,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with customary practices of the French presidency.<\/p>\n Siddhartha Kaushal, a research fellow on sea power at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said clearing mines and creating warning systems for maritime threats were more likely roles for the alliance than warships carrying commercial tankers in the strait.<\/p>\n “You need a large number of ships for that kind of thing, which no one has,” he said.<\/p>\n Iran expert Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said mine clearing is an area where European countries and their partners can play a role.<\/p>\n “They would be a better party than the United States to do that, because once the U.S. military is doing that and resting on Iranian shores, it creates a potential area for Iran and the U.S. to miscalculate and get back into a kind of military tension,” he said.<\/p>\n Britain has discussed using mine-hunting drones deployed from the ship RFA Lyme Bay for the Hormuz mission.<\/p>\n The war exposed the shrunken state of the Royal Navy, which deployed only one major warship, the destroyer HMS Dragon, to the eastern Mediterranean. France, which has the most powerful military in the European Union, has sent its nuclear powered aircraft carrier<\/a> With a helicopter carrier and several warships, in the area.<\/p>\n