Taoiseach says Ireland won’t be getting involved in Trump plan to secure Strait of Hormuz

IRELAND WILL NOT be getting involved in the US plan to secure the Strait of Hormuz, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has indicated.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, DC, Martin said there was a “conversation going on within Nato” but added that Ireland was not a member of that alliance.

Asked about US President Donald Trump’s request for countries to assist in securing the strait, Martin said:

“We’re not a military power. We don’t have that offensive military capacity in any shape or form, so obviously that’s not something that’s on our agenda.”

The Fianna Fáil leader said Ireland wanted a “peaceful resolution”, adding: “There is obviously huge concern about the economic implications globally, energy price increases and so on.

“But that works both ways and I think Iran is recklessly attacking all the Gulf states, for example, and all the citizens and European citizens and Irish citizens within the Gulf who are under threat from those kind of reckless attacks.”

Martin’s comments came as European Union foreign ministers met today to discuss options to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ship traffic, including using an existing EU military mission.

US president Donald Trump has been pushing world powers to help him solve the closure of the Strait since the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran.

The strait is a 39km-wide stretch of water between an Omanian and United Arab Emirates peninsula and the Iranian coastline.

The location is a choke point for shipping, moving a fifth of the world’s crude oil and gas supplies, and the closure of the strait by Iran is being blamed in part for rising prices. 

A number of ships have been struck in what has been said to be Iranian action.

EU foreign ministers are meeting to discuss extending the Bloc’s Red Sea naval mission to help reopen the strategically vital waterway.

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This morning the EU’s diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas told reporters that she would favour using a specific EU mission called Operation Aspide, but that there would be consideration for a ‘coalition of the willing’ approach also. 

Operation Aspide is an initiative under the EU’s Naval Force concept. It is based in the Red Sea and is focused on ensuring that ships are not attacked by Yemini Houthi rebels. It falls under the bloc’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) scheme.

“The point is whether the member states are willing to actually use this mission if we want to have security in this region, then it would be easiest to actually already use the operation that we have in the region, and maybe change a bit,” said Kallas. 

“There is also talk of a ‘coalition of the willing’ in this regard. But we also need to see what could be the fastest to provide this opening for the Strait of Hormuz. But of course, as you can see, it’s not easy,” she said. 

Despite the comments from Kallas, several EU member states indicated they were cold to the idea.

Speaking to reporters in Boston, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee echoed the Taoiseach’s remarks and said Ireland will not be sending naval ships into the area. 

“Our priority today, and Ireland’s priority today, is to call for the de-escalation of violence, to call for the conflict to end, to call for the opening up of the Strait of Hormuz,” McEntee said.

“The current mandate of Operation Aspides is correct and does not require any changes,” Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said, arriving at the talks.

His comments were echoed by Italy’s Antonio Tajani who expressed scepticism about the feasibility of extending the mission’s mandate, adding Italy preferred a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Germany’s Johann Wadephul said Berlin wanted to first hear from Israel and the United States “when they believe they will have achieved their military objectives in Iran” before moving on to plan a “security architecture” for the region. 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said today that his government was working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

It comes after Starmer spoke with Trump yesterday after the US president warned that the future of Nato could be at stake unless allies agreed to his demand to provide ships. 

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“We’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impacts,” Starmer said this morning. 

He added the intention was to make the plan “credible” and ruled out Nato involvement.

“Let me be clear, that won’t be and it’s never been envisioned to be a Nato mission,” Starmer said.

That’ll have to be an alliance of partners, which is why we’re working with partners, both in Europe, in the Gulf, and with the US.

Much of the driving force for the mission is coming from Paris with French president Emmanuel Macron saying last week that Paris and its allies were preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the strait.

At present there are three ships in Operation Aspides – the French propose that they would add two more frigates “over the long term”.

The ships would need anti-aircraft capability as a pre-requisite for joining, which would rule out Ireland as a partner.

Oil prices

Oil prices are continuing to rise, with Brent North Sea Crude up 3% to $106.50 (€92.83) per barrel today.

A drone attack on oil infrastructure on the Fujairah industrial zone on the UAE’s east coast sparked a large fire, authorities said. Also Saudi Arabia has intercepted 61 drones in the east of the country since midnight, according to a tally of defence ministry figures.

Kallas was anxious to stress in her statement that the closure of the strait was benefiting Russia particularly and that the easing of sanctions on Russian energy products was a “dangerous precedent”.

“Because right now we need them to have less money for waging the war [in Ukraine] than more. Of course, you know, the Strait of Hormuz being closed is also to the benefit of Russia to fund this war. So we need to do definitely more on this,” she added.

With reporting from Jane Matthews, AFP and PA

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