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French-owned ship crosses Strait of Hormuz after Macron's ‘too much talk’ dig at Trump
The Strait of Hormuz has been virtually blocked by Iran since early in the Middle East war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on February 28.
A container ship declaring itself to have a French owner passed through the choked Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, a development that came after France President Emmanuel Macron took a dig at Donald Trump for “talking too much”.
According Marine Traffic data analysed by AFP news agency on Friday, the Maltese-flagged Kribi belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM crossed the strait -- which has been virtually blocked by Iran since early in the Middle East war -- to exit the Gulf on Thursday afternoon. Track Iran war April 3 updates here
The ship was off Muscat, Oman on Friday morning, still broadcasting the message "owner France" on its transponder system in the field usually corresponding to the destination.
Ship Hormuz after Macron's dig at Trump
The passage to the French-owned vessel through the Strait of Hormuz, movement in which has been practically halted due to Iranian retaliatory strikes after the US-Israeli offensive launched on February 28, comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said it would be “unrealistic” to try to reopen the the key waterway through military means.
US President Donald Trump in a prime-time White House address on Wednesday again said that countries that receive oil through the strait "must take care of that passage". Trump, not very humbly, has been asking other countries to help in reopening the Strait through which a fifth of world's oil and gas requirements travel.
"There are those who advocate for the liberation of the Strait of Hormuz by force through a military operation, a position sometimes expressed by the United States," AFP quoted Macron as saying during a visit to South Korea.
"I say sometimes because it has varied, it is never the option we have chosen and we consider it unrealistic," he said.
Macron said such an operation would take excessive time and expose those crossing the strait to "coastal threats", particularly from Iran's Revolutionary Guards "who possess significant resources as well as ballistic missiles".
‘Talks too much’
Macron, who landed in South Korea on Thursday after visiting Japan, also appeared to express frustration at Trump's statements on the conflict and his remarks on a past incident involving Macron and his wife. Trump also criticised NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran.
"If you create daily doubt about your commitment, you hollow it out," Macron said apparently referring to numerous policy U-turns by Trump, adding that there is “too much talk... going off in all directions”
"We all need stability, calm, a return to peace -- this isn't a show!" AFP quoted Macron.
"You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don't say the opposite every day of what you said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn't talk every day," Macron said on Trump's address.
Trump on Wednesday, at a private lunch, had also poked fun at Macron's marriage and accent, saying that French president's wife "treats him extremely badly" and that Macron was still "recovering from the right to the jaw".
Trump was referring to a May 2025 news video that appeared to show Brigitte Macron shoving the French president's face on a trip to Vietnam, which Macron later rejected as part of a disinformation campaign.
On the visit to Seoul, Macron, who was accompanied by his wife Brigitte, said Trump's comments were "neither elegant nor up to standard". "So I am not going to respond to them -- they do not merit a response," Macron told reporters.
The French president also said that Trump was undermining the NATO alliance.
"If you create daily doubt about your commitment, you hollow it out," Macron said, adding that there is "too much talk... going off in all directions".
