Tiago Petinga / Lusa
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel
“Everyone is willing, especially those who have more means to “overcome this blockade or manipulation of freedom of navigation on a political and diplomatic level”, guarantees Paulo Rangel.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs discarded this Monday any military involvement by Portugal in the Middle East, including in the Strait of Hormuz, and highlighted that this position is shared by the majority of European Union member states.
“Portugal is not, nor will it be, involved in this conflict”, said Paulo Rangel, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of EU diplomatic chiefs in Brussels.
The minister stated that “everything that can be done to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and allow freedom of navigation is positive” and that “There are lots of things that can be done on the political, diplomatic and. It is in this plan that Portugal is and that, I think, the European Union will also be”.
Rangel said that among his EU colleagues there is a “broad consensus” on the idea that efforts should be made to “overcome this blockage or manipulation of freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz, but without resorting to any military option.
“Everyone is willing, especially those who have more means – and when I say means, I also mean diplomatic means – to cooperate in this sense. Now, obviously, this does not imply a movement of military means to the region and, especially, to the Strait of Hormuz”, he said.
Asked whether Portugal supports a possible mobilization of the EU Aspides mission, which currently escorts commercial and merchant ships in the Red Sea, to the Strait of Hormuz, Rangel said that both this mission and Atalanta, which operates in the Indian Ocean, “may have some reinforcement”but that “they are missions of a different type and, therefore, it is within their framework that they have to be seen. It is certainly not within the framework of this conflict, for which these missions were not designed.”
When asked whether Portugal would not respond to the challenge of North American President Donald Trump, who warned that NATO would have one if the allies did not help open the Strait of Hormuz, Rangel replied: “Yes”.
“What I can say is that we will not participate in this conflict, that has been very clear from the beginning,” he said.
