The European Union may be scaling up its naval force to protect shipping routes disrupted by the war.
After a 40-nation call organised by UK Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that efforts must be made to restore safe maritime passage in the Strait of Hormuz.
“This waterway is a global public good. Iran cannot be allowed to charge countries a bounty to let ships pass. International law doesn’t recognise pay-to-pass schemes,” Kallas wrote on social media.
She called for the EU’s Aspides naval mission, launched two years ago to protect Red Sea shipping, to be beefed up in the wake of the war.
“The EU’s Aspides naval mission has already assisted 1,700 ships in the Red Sea and must be scaled up. We cannot afford to lose another critical trade route,” she said, adding that the UN has already been working to get food and fertilisers out of the strait.
“The EU has tools to track and facilitate transit that could help with that,” she said.