A member of RFA Lyme Bay's crew scans the horizon from the bridge during the ship's transit on June 18, 2026. A European security mission in the Strait of Hormuz will require multiple ships, aircraft, drones and thousands of personnel in what analysts expect to be a long-term peacekeeping operation. (Royal Navy/MoD Crown Copyright)
NAPLES, Italy — While planning for a multinational effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz has intensified in recent weeks, a series of U.S.-Iran strikes over the last few days has underscored the inherent dangers in reopening the waterway.
The renewal of hostilities with no clear path forward in resuming a U.S.-Iran ceasefire reached earlier this month puts into further doubt when operations to safely restore the free flow of traffic in the strait could begin.
Military officials and analysts say reopening one of the world’s most important waterways will require a lengthy operation likely involving American, European and regional forces, along with civilian maritime organizations.
Such a mission would require a squadron of ships, aircraft, drones and thousands of personnel in what could be a long-term peacekeeping operation, analysts say.
Any multinational mission in the Strait of Hormuz would depend on the coordinated efforts of multiple participating countries.
It also would rely on the involvement of Middle East nations, including Iran, said Kevin Rowlands, a professor and journal editor at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute.
“In some way, it’s got to involve Iran,” Rowlands said. “Even if it’s not Iran that is there with platforms taking part in whatever mission it is, there needs to be some kind of coordination with (Tehran).“
The United States also is likely to be involved. President Donald Trump has said U.S. forces already have been searching for mines in the strait, and the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding calls for American forces to remain near Iran until a final agreement is reached.
The U.S. agreed to remove its forces from the vicinity of Iran within 30 days after a final deal is concluded.
European leaders have offered to take a prominent role in the mission but have indicated their forces will not enter the strait until they have assurances that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement will hold.
Rowlands said the European mission would remain neutral. European efforts would likely start with smaller operations that could be scaled up, if successful, into a mission that would last months or potentially years, he said.
Frigates, destroyers and mine countermeasures vessels would work in conjunction with maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters to clear a bottleneck of tankers and other commercial ships trapped in the Persian Gulf since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February.
The effort also would include aerial and surface drones and other autonomous, uncrewed systems to help restore traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s consumption of petroleum products travels each day.
There were a combined 80 transits through the waterway facilitated by the U.S. on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as 85 other vessel transits during the two-day period, according to a Joint Maritime Information Center report released Thursday. The historical average is 138 per day, it said.
Exactly when the effort to clear the strait could begin remains uncertain, as negotiators work to preserve the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and security threats continue.
On Thursday, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations reported that a cargo ship was hit by an unknown projectile while transiting strait waters near Oman. The strike damaged the vessel’s bridge but there were no casualties, the maritime security organization said.
The news came two days after Oman announced two alternate traffic routes through the Strait of Hormuz, part of an International Maritime Organization plan to evacuate stranded ships and their crews.
The effort was paused Thursday pending clarification of the situation, according to the organization.
Since then, the U.S. and Iran have traded fire with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announcing Sunday a fresh round of strikes on American military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.
A multinational operation to reopen the strait likely would settle on a specific route through the waterway deemed safe for travel following mine-clearing operations, which would need to remain persistent to ensure that more mines had not been subsequently laid, Rowlands said.
It’s uncertain how many sea mines Iran has placed in the strait, but the mere threat of them, along with Iranian missile and small-boat attacks, has kept ships mired.
The initial effort, using minesweepers and underwater drones, could take as long as 50 days before shipowners and their insurers were confident enough to transit the strait, Reuters reported, citing assessments from security sources.
Many of the ships and assets needed for the European security mission are already in the Middle East or on the way.
On Tuesday, the U.K. navy said one of its mine-hunting ships had passed through the Red Sea, escorted by a destroyer. Two German ships, including a mine countermeasures vessel, transited alongside the U.K. ships, according to a statement.
Two Italian minesweepers and a French carrier strike group already are on station in the Middle East.
Additionally, the Netherlands is moving a frigate closer to the region and has committed a mine countermeasures ship for a potential mission, the English-language newspaper NL Times reported June 19.
Greece also is expected to contribute a frigate, already operating in the Red Sea as part of a separate European Union mission, and a support ship, the online Greek news site ekathimerinia.com reported last week.
Keeping those assets in the Middle East, probably for years, is a tricky proposition for European countries, which also must prioritize defending against Russian threats, said Bence Nemeth, a senior lecturer and executive director of the King’s Center for Defense Economics and Management at King’s College London.
While it makes sense politically to send European troops to the Middle East in support of the peace process, it creates gaps in military capabilities closer to Europe, he noted.
“If something happens in Europe, these assets will be pulled back without any notice,” Nemeth said.
