NATO says Strait of Hormuz demining is outside its mandate

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says the military alliance is not involved in any mine-clearance operations in the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that the strategic waterway falls outside NATO territory.

“This is outside NATO territory. Of course, we are monitoring what is happening, and NATO countries are closely coordinating their actions,” Rutte said, speaking in Berlin during a visit to the German capital where he addressed the annual German Heads of Mission Conference.

Rutte’s remarks come amid a broader collapse of European support for the terrorist US-Israeli war on Iran, with key NATO members refusing to participate in the aggression or allow their bases and airspace to be used for attacks on the Islamic Republic.

Since the war began on February 28, a cascade of European refusals has exposed deep fractures within the transatlantic alliance. Spain closed its airspace to US military aircraft involved in war against Iran and denied authorization for the use of bases at Rota and Moron de la Frontera.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles told parliament that the United States and Israel “cannot be the ones who decide what rules apply in the world,” describing the campaign against Iran as falling outside international law.

Italy blocked US use of the Sigonella air base in Sicily after discovering that US bombers had filed flight plans only after aircraft were already airborne. The Italian government stated that activities linked to the war on Iran require explicit parliamentary authorization.

France confirmed it had not changed its overflight policy despite US President Donald Trump’s accusation that Paris was being “very unhelpful.”

Certain US aircraft may use French military bases, but only on condition that they play no role in operations against Iran. President Emmanuel Macron stated the strikes on Iran were conducted “outside international law”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was equally direct: “The question is not whether we will participate. We will not do so.” On NATO, he added: “It is a defensive alliance, not an interventionist alliance”.

Trump has responded with fury, calling NATO a “paper tiger” and threatening to withdraw the United States from the alliance.

After a closed-door meeting with Rutte in April, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN”.

On April 13, Trump ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after peace talks with Iran in Islamabad failed to yield results. US Central Command said the blockade would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports”.

Trump later boasted that the US Navy was acting “like pirates” in carrying out the blockade. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei responded: “This was no verbal slip. It was a direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation”.

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply, with vessel movements dropping to single digits amid the ongoing war on Iran and restrictions on shipping through the strategic waterway.

Shipping traffic through the strait fell further on Thursday, with only seven vessel transits recorded, down from 11 the previous day, according to preliminary ship-tracking data from Kpler cited by Reuters.

The figure was also less than half the 10-day average of 15 vessel transits, underscoring the sharp decline in commercial traffic through one of the world’s most important energy corridors.

Before the war on Iran began on February 28, the strait typically saw around 125 large commercial vessels pass through each day, including oil tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and container ships.

The waterway normally accounts for around 20 percent of the world’s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, making disruptions to traffic through the strait a major concern for global energy markets.

Since the start of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, the Islamic Republic has largely restricted the passage of ships through the strait.

Tehran has said it will not reopen the waterway until the United States meets its demands and takes steps to restore Iran’s trust.

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