French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated on Saturday (25) that he was focused on efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a day after the head of TotalEnergies warned of global energy shortages if the war with Iran drags on for months.
Macron, speaking at a news conference in Athens alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said panic caused by geopolitical uncertainty could itself lead to shortages.
“Our goal is to achieve a full reopening in the coming days and weeks in accordance with international law, guaranteeing freedom of toll-free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Then things can gradually return to normal,” Macron said.
World of energy scarcity
TotalEnergies Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne on Friday pushed for the reopening of the strait, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies normally flow.
Movement through the strait, which is also an important shipping route for goods including fertilizers and pharmaceuticals, is blocked due to the US and Israeli war against Iran, as Iran has seized container ships and the United States has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.
“If this lasts another two or three months, we will enter a world of energy shortages, like Asian countries have already suffered,” Pouyanne said at the World Policy Conference in Chantilly, outside Paris. “You cannot have 20% of the planet’s oil and gas inaccessible and without serious consequences.”
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International mission
More than a dozen countries have said they are willing to join an international mission led by France and Britain to protect shipping in the strait when conditions permit, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has declared he does not need help from his allies.
“We are all in the same boat, and it is not a boat we chose, if I may say so. We are victims of geopolitics and we are victims of this war that started several months ago,” Macron said on Saturday.
