French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France would "never take part" in operations to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, directly contradicting US President Donald Trump, who had given Macron an "8 out of 10" for his supposed willingness to help.
Emmanuel Macron © Mena Today
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France would "never take part" in operations to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, directly contradicting US President Donald Trump, who had given Macron an "8 out of 10" for his supposed willingness to help.
The contradiction was embarrassing. The retreat was predictable.
The Master of Empty Gestures
Macron's refusal comes as no surprise from a president who has made a career of bold declarations followed by strategic retreats. After the October 7, 2023 massacres in Israel, he called for a grand international anti-terrorist coalition - only to pivot months later into sharp criticism of Israel before recognizing a Palestinian state in a move described by most observers as pure political marketing with zero practical effect.
Now, with the Middle East ablaze, the Strait of Hormuz closed and oil prices surging, Macron has found his position: wait for the shooting to stop, then lead a coalition that doesn't include America, doesn't involve France militarily and requires prior negotiations with the very regime causing the crisis.
In other words: do nothing, and dress it up as principle.
A President with No Influence, No Courage and No Time Left
France has been effectively sidelined throughout the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, a testament to its diminishing strategic relevance. Macron, with months left before leaving the Élysée, is not shaping events. He is commenting on them.
His "post-war coalition" plan, consulting European, Asian and Gulf partners for a future escort mission that would require a ceasefire, Iranian negotiations and international consensus, is the diplomatic equivalent of planning an umbrella after the storm has passed.
Trump saw through it. He gave Macron an 8 out of 10 - then watched him publicly walk it back within 24 hours.
That, in a nutshell, is French diplomacy in 2026: graded generously, delivered never.
Saudi Arabia expects imminent coordinated attacks from Iraqi militias north of the Gulf state and from Yemen's Houthis from the south under the supervision of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a senior Saudi official said.
An Iranian parliamentary committee is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other "hostile" vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a lawmaker.
With President Donald Trump’s war against Iran now in its sixth month, this week's flurry of threats and diplomacy has underscored the ever-tighter bind he finds himself in as he tries to extricate the U.S. from an unpopular conflict he originally claimed would last just weeks.
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