France’s Mediterranean armada signals clout as Middle East may rethink alliances

France already leads a monitoring mission in the Strait of Hormuz to protect trade there, and if a military operation to support opening the strait does get underway, Macron could take credit for acting to keep down the cost of living down in France and elsewhere, said Ed Arnold, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. Deploying the carrier group deeper into the Middle East and towards Hormuz is risky, with traffic in the strait congested and due to Iran’s capabilities, according to Arnold. If France wants to stick to providing defense support to allies, it can do that from the Eastern Mediterranean, he said.