Paris. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urged G7 Group member countries to come forward and help protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks. However, Rubio admitted that no progress could be made on the issue in talks with foreign ministers of G7 countries in Paris. Asked how the foreign ministers of the G7 countries responded to his appeal, Rubio said, “I raised the issue.” I did not get any positive feedback. He said the US will continue to take steps to ensure the safety of ships passing through this strategically important waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz is considered very important in terms of global energy supply. In the last few months, ships passing through this route have been facing continuous drone and missile attacks. “We have really encouraged our partners to join our efforts to protect global navigation,” Rubio said after two days of talks in Paris with G7 foreign ministers on the Middle East conflict, the Ukraine war and other issues.
US allies, including France, have said the fighting needs to stop before demining ships and other assistance can be provided to protect ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Rubio called it a dire dilemma. He said that we also have a challenge that some countries say that when there is no longer any danger of conflict, then they are ready to provide their forces to protect the ships.
Rubio said that we think it is in the interest of the whole world to protect the ships, because America does not get any oil from there. He said that these countries should come forward. I think some countries are thinking about this. The foreign ministers of the G-7 countries held a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Ukraine in France on Tuesday as trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US began in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha first spoke with Rubio in Paris on Tuesday. After this he reached the Foreign Ministry of France, where he held a meeting with the foreign ministers of all the G-7 member countries. However, none of these leaders shared any information about the talks. The US State Department later said in a brief statement that the two sides discussed negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, energy security and defense cooperation.