Macron refrains from blaming Trump but pushes for deal to open Strait of Hormuz ‘today’

French President Emmanuel Macron pressed President Donald Trump on Tuesday to bring the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz to a swift end.

Macron declined to blame the president directly for the global energy pandemonium caused by the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz, but suggested during an ABC News interview that Washington “probably underestimated” Iran’s move to use the water passageway as a political pawn. The “Iranian regime discovered they had this card in their hands,” in its ability to lock down the Strait of Hormuz when the war started, Macron noted, as around 20% of the world’s commercial oil and gas trade normally passes through the waterway.