Days after its decision to restrict airspace for U.S. military overflights supplying Israel, France aligned with fellow United Nations Security Council members China and Russia to block a Gulf nations’ resolution authorizing the use of force to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Senior U.N. officials told The New York Times that these nations, three of the five permanent members of the Council with veto power, “opposed any language authorizing force.”
The Times reported:
The actual vote on the resolution, which was drafted by Bahrain with the support of the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, is expected to be scheduled for Friday. But it remained unclear whether extra hours of diplomacy would bring the three veto-holding countries on board.There were also divisions over the resolution among the 10 nonpermanent members, according to diplomats.
According to the sources, the problematic portion of the resolution states:
The Security Council authorizes member States, acting nationally or through voluntary multinational naval partnerships, with advance notifications to the Security Council, to use all necessary means to secure transit passage and to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Control of this narrow corridor through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas supply must pass is the IRGC’s last remaining point of leverage. Its closure has roiled energy markets and driven oil prices into the stratosphere.
Additionally, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles at its Gulf neighbors since the war began, inflicting extensive damage on military, energy, and civilian targets across the region.
It’s no surprise that China and Russia would stand up for Iran, but France?
From the Times’ report:
Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, told a session of the Security Council on Thursday that “Iran’s aggressive intentions” toward its Arab neighbors were “treacherous” and “preplanned,” and violated international law. He said Iran had targeted civilian structures such as airports, water stations, seaports and hotels.Abdulaziz Sager, the chairman of the Gulf Research Center, a think tank based in Saudi Arabia, said any cease-fire agreement must also address Iran’s capability to attack Gulf countries and control maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “We will not forget what they have done to us, and they will not forget that the U.S. had a lot of facilities here in the Gulf,” he said.The Qatari government said it expects a $20 billion loss in annual revenue. Most of the Gulf countries had maintained cordial ties with Iran before the war, including Saudi Arabia, which re-established diplomatic relations with Iran in a China-brokered pact in 2023.Saudi and Emirati officials in particular had come to believe that the best way to manage the threat posed to them by Iran was through nurturing diplomacy and shared economic interests, analysts say.Bahrain was an exception. An island nation where a Sunni monarchy rules over a Shiite-majority citizenry, Bahrain has long had an antagonistic relationship with Iran, accusing it of meddling in its internal affairs and stirring up dissent.But in the wake of the war, even countries like Qatar and Oman — which often served as a mediators between the United States and Iran — have indicated that their relationships with the Islamic republic are probably irreparably damaged. They have handed the mediator role to Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt.
President Donald Trump is disgusted with the lack of cooperation the U.S. has received from our NATO allies over the past month. France’s weekend rebuff follows a series of similar slights from across the alliance. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently made his position clear, stating, “This is not our war, and we’re not going to be dragged into it.” Italy, for its part, declined to authorize a U.S. military aircraft bound for the Middle East to land at Naval Air Base Sigonella in Sicily last week. Spain, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the alliance’s least cooperative members.
And on Tuesday, he took to Truth Social to express his anger.
Trump rebuked “all of those countries that can’t get jet fuel, like the United Kingdom,” for their unwillingness to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. He suggested they either buy their oil from the U.S. or “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Trump’s suggestion was “unrealistic because it would take an inordinate amount of time and would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, a host of other risks.”
With allies like France …
Our NATO allies’ hesitation to join efforts to confront one of the world’s most destabilizing actors may ultimately prove shortsighted, particularly when that threat lies in their own backyard. As Iran’s targeting of Diego Garcia, a U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean nearly 4,000 kilometers away from Tehran, showed, the regime is now capable of striking cities in Western Europe.
While Trump could have delivered his message more diplomatically, it is a message that one European nation cannot afford to ignore. The West faces a common enemy in Iran, one whose capacity to disrupt global stability through its control of the Strait of Hormuz poses serious risks to energy markets and regional security.
But, like many Democrats in America, our cowardly allies in Europe would rather see Trump lose than see the bully of the world annihilated.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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