The closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranin response to the attacks by the US and Israel on its territory, has reopened an internal debate in the European Union (EU) on whether to activate a tool at its disposal in this disputed passage of ships. From 2024, the EU has a naval missionunder the name of operation Aspideswhich was born to protect the free navigation in the surroundings of Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, explicitly including the Strait of Hormuz. However, context matters, and this operation was approved in February 2024 to protect ships from attacks Houthis in the Red Sea, the focus on which activities are currently concentrated, so activating the mission for an expanded function must have the consensus of the Twenty-seven.
The strategic objective of Aspides — which means “shield”in Greek, and whose base is in Larissa, Greece– is limited to guaranteeing a presence EU naval force to protect merchant ships and ensure freedom of navigation in one of the most sensitive maritime routes in the world, according to the legal text. To define other more proactive functions, as would be the current case, the consensus of the Twenty-Seven must be achieved.
Defensive character
The original mandate establishes three tasks: accompany shipskeep the maritime situational awareness y protect them against multiple attacks at sea. The official formulation also emphasizes that it is a mission purely defensivedesigned to respond to threats against navigation and not to open a new military front in the region.
This defensive nature is one of the keys to the current debate. The documents of the EU and the European External Action Service they insist that Aspides does not attack on the ground: protects ships attacked from the sea or from the air and acts within the limits of the international lawwith criteria of necessity and proportionality. It is, in essence, an operation of maritime traffic protectionnot a regional offensive campaign.
The High Representative of Foreign Policy and Security of the EU, Kaja Kallas, upon her arrival at the Council of Foreign Ministers, this Monday. / NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
His mandate already includes Hormuz
They are geographic area It is broad and is specified in the legal texts. The founding decision includes the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuzin addition to the international waters of the Red Seahe golfo de Adenhe Arabian seahe gulf of oman and the Persian Gulf. That is to say, Hormuz was within the original design of the operation, and when the expansion is discussed it is not so much geographical as the type of actions carried out in the area.
What has changed over time is the political reading of that presence. In the extension approved by the Council the February 23, 2026the EU reiterated that Aspides remains active on the main routes around Bab el-Mandeb and added that monitors the maritime situation in the Strait of Hormuz. This was the second extension: already in 2025 the mandate was extended by one year and the possibility of collecting information on arms trafficking y clandestine fleets to share it with other institutions and organizations. Today the mission is extended until February 28, 2027.
Fear of climbing
This Monday’s discussion between European ministers, therefore, revolved around what else could i do in Hormuz. The high representative of European diplomacy, Kaja Kalla, He defended that keeping the strait open is a European interest and proposed exploring whether the existing operation could be adapted to assume a greater role in the area. But the foreign ministers of the Twenty-seven did not support that idea.
The resistance was led Spain y Germany. Both insisted that the current mandate is adequate and that an enlargement could drag the EU into a broader conflict between United States, Israel and Iran. For this reason, in addition to the option of retouching Aspides, other formulas have appeared on the table: a possible volunteer coalition or even an international initiative inspired by the grain corridor of the Black Sea. At the moment, however, there is no formal decision to change the mission.
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