NATO Ministers Meet Gulf Counterparts on Hormuz Strait Stalemate

NATO foreign ministers met Gulf Arab counterparts on Tuesday to address the stalemate over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The session took place on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara and included ministers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Monitor reported that the agenda featured a Franco-British proposal for a multinational maritime mission that Iran has dismissed.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency stated early Tuesday that a tanker was struck east of Oman's Limah. Axios reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired at least two missiles at commercial ships transiting the strait. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were directly targeted by Iranian attacks this spring.

"Their stability and ours are inextricably linked," Prevot stated before the meeting. Iran began blockading the strait after the United States and Israel launched military action against it in February. -Iran peace deal was reached in mid-June, yet passage remains difficult.

The waterway normally carries around a fifth of the world's oil supply. France and Britain have led efforts to build a coalition among roughly a dozen countries to guarantee safe passage. The Sultanate of Oman agreed to work with the United Kingdom and France to ensure its sovereign territorial waters are safe for navigation, according to a Franco-British joint statement issued July 3.

U.S. President Donald Trump is due in Ankara later Tuesday.