(Adnkronos) – The European Union’s Aspides mission should be “strengthened” but should remain in the Red Sea – where its mission is to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels – Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas argues that it is in the EU’s strategic interest to keep shipping moving and EU foreign ministers are mulling a plan to expand the Greek-led Asipides mission’s remit to policing the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint after US president Donald Trump demanded support from allies.
One-fifth of the world’s oil shipments transit the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has vowed to keep closed to the US and its allies, causing disruptions to energy and commodity markets amid the escalating US-Israel war on Iran, with oil prices topping 100 dollars a barrel.
Italy is the latest country after UK, Germany and Greece to voice opposition to expanding the remit of the small, Greek-led Aspides mission, which was established in 2024.
