The head of EU diplomacy said this Monday, the 16th, that she had spoken to the UN secretary general to ask for an initiative that would allow oil to be exported through the Strait of Hormuz, similar to the agreement that allowed grain to leave Ukraine.
“Over the weekend, I spoke with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, about whether it would be possible to have the same type of initiative [no estreito de Ormuz] that we had in the Black Sea to take cereals from Ukraine”, said Kaja Kallas in statements to journalists upon arriving for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.
The EU High Representative said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is “very dangerous” for oil supplies, particularly for Asia, “but it is also problematic for fertilizers”.
“If there is a lack of fertilizers this year, there will be food deprivation next year. Therefore, we discussed with António Guterres how it would be possible to carry out” this initiative, he indicated.
In her mention of Ukraine, Kaja Kallas was referring to the so-called Black Sea Grains Initiative, mediated by the UN and Turkey in July 2022, which, after being signed by Kiev and Moscow, allowed cereal exports from Ukrainian ports despite the war between the two countries, before the Russian side suspended the agreement in July 2023.
In these statements to journalists, Kaja Kallas said that the Foreign Ministers will also discuss today whether to change the mandate of the Aspides mission, whose mission is currently to protect commercial and merchant ships in the Red Sea region.
“Let’s see if the Member States are truly willing to use this mission. If we want to have security in the region, it would be easier to use this mission that we already have in the region and change it a little”, he said, noting that, although France has already announced that it intends to create a mission to help open the Strait of Hormuz, “we need to see what could work faster”.
Asked about the statements made by the President of the United States, who said this Sunday that NATO would have a “very bad future” if the allies did not help to open the Strait of Hormuz, Kaja Kallas replied: “It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open”.
“That’s why we are also seeing what we can do on the European side. We have been in contact with our American colleagues at various levels,” he said.
Kallas noted, however, that the Strait of Hormuz “is outside the area” of the Alliance and “there are no NATO countries in the Strait of Hormuz”, stressing that this is why the Aspides mission, or another voluntary mission that is created by EU Member States for the Strait of Hormuz, is important.
European Union (EU) foreign ministers meet today in Brussels to discuss the consequences of the war in Iran and decide on a possible reinforcement of the naval presence in the Middle East to protect maritime circulation in the region.
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