European governments have denied requests to join a United States-led military operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, defying U.S. President Donald Trump and signaling a more assertive European Union willing to act independently.
Despite Trump’s attempts to cajole NATO allies, European leaders have largely refused to participate in an effort to secure the strategic waterway — an oil lifeline now blocked by Iran. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, underscored that stance on Monday, ruling out an extension of the bloc’s existing naval operation in the Red Sea and bluntly framing the conflict as “not Europe’s war.”
The EU’s decision comes as Spain and Switzerland have already refused to grant U.S. forces access to bases or airspace for operations against Iran.
“It shows how the Europeans are really trying to chart their own path when it comes to using their defensive capabilities for their own purposes, rather than in a transatlantic interest that benefits the U.S.,” said Anna Matilde Bassoli, an independent military analyst focused on maritime issues.
No European appetite for war
After the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February, Tehran choked off the Strait of Hormuz with an array of drones, mines and armed powerboats. About 20% of the world’s oil travels through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf with the rest of the world.
The closure spiked global energy prices, with import-dependent Europe hit particularly hard. Just days after the first rockets fell on Iran, European gas prices soared more than 50%.
The U.S. had built up a significant naval presence in the region in the run up to the war. France has since sent nearly a dozen ships and its sole aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle. These deployments, however, predate Trump’s request and are primarily intended to safeguard national interests rather than support a U.S.-led operation.
On Sunday, Trump said he had asked seven countries to help open the strait. Without specifying which countries, he demanded they come “protect their own territory.” In an interview with the Financial Times on the same day, Trump said that a negative response would be “very bad for the future of NATO.”
But the EU sees it differently.
“It’s in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open,” Kallas said ahead of a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Brussels on Monday, but added that the strait was “out of NATO’s area of action.”
Other European leaders agreed, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who told reporters that any plan to open the strait “won't be and it's never been envisioned to be a NATO mission,” a position seconded by Germany.
At the heart of the meeting was the question of extending the geographic mandate of Operation Aspides, which was initially launched in 2024 to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi militias, to also include the Strait of Hormuz. Kallas said that while the existing mission would receive additional resources, “there is no appetite of changing the mandate of the operation Aspides for now.”
A widening transatlantic rift
The dispute over reopening the strait amplifies existing tensions over who sets the agenda in the transatlantic relationship.
Claude-France Arnould, a senior fellow for European defense at the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics and a former French diplomat, said that European leaders had wisely resisted rushing into the conflict, and that by strengthening the ongoing Aspides operation, the EU signals its continued presence in the region but in a purely defensive capacity.
The EU wants to preserve diplomatic options for as long as possible to safeguard access to oil and gas once the conflict ends, said Bassoli, the military analyst. In addition, there are doubts about the effectiveness of Operation Aspides in the Red Sea, which Bassoli said had struggled to properly target drones — at one point almost resulting in a friendly-fire incident with the U.S.
“The Europeans do not approach warfare, diplomacy or strategy the same way as the Americans do. It’s that simple,” she said. “The Europeans love the defensive part of all of this, because it allows them to explore every single diplomatic opportunity that there is until the very last resort.”
Limited consultation from Washington, combined with Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, also makes “joining this war is politically radioactive,” said Chris Kremidas‑Courtney, a senior visiting fellow in defense and security at the European Policy Centre.
By contrast, the U.S. is much less dependent on Gulf energy and has taken a more confrontational stance against Iran, blowing up diplomatic talks twice in recent months. The U.S. oil and gas industry is also benefitting from higher global prices, even as international pressure mounts on Washington to bring down prices for U.S. consumers.
Ultimately, European leaders from across the bloc have made clear they don’t want to be drawn into a conflict with murky political objectives.
“European countries don’t want to get bogged down in a quagmire that has been caused entirely by the United States’s own volition,” said Otto Svendsen, an associate fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Alliances cut both ways. It's difficult to bully and cajole your European allies for the better part of the last year, and then expect them to bail you out.”
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