PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated on Saturday that he was focused on efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a day after the head of TotalEnergies warned of global energy shortages if the Iran war continues for months. Macron, speaking at a news conference in Athens alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said panic caused by geopolitical uncertainty can in itself lead to shortages. "Our goal is to achieve a full reopening in the coming days and weeks, in accordance with international law, guaranteeing freedom of navigation without tolls on the Strait of Hormuz. Then things can gradually return to normal," Macron said.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne pressed on Friday for the reopening of the strait, through which about a fifth of the globe's oil and gas supply normally flows. Movement through the strait, which is also a key transport route for goods including fertilisers and pharmaceuticals, has been choked due to the US-Israeli war with Iran, as Iran has seized container ships and the United States has mounted a blockade on Iranian ports. "If it lasts two, three months more, we are entering a world of scarcity of energy, which Asian countries have already suffered," Pouyanne told the World Policy Conference in Chantilly, outside Paris. "You cannot have 20% of the oil and gas of the planet being stranded and not accessible without major consequences."
More than a dozen countries have said they are willing to join an international mission led by France and Britain to protect shipping in the strait when conditions permit, even as US President Donald Trump has said he does not need allies' help. "We're all in the same boat, and it's not a boat we chose. We're victims of geopolitics, and we're victims of this war that started several months ago," Macron said on Saturday. — Reuters
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