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Germany sceptical about expanding EUOperation Aspides in Strait of Hormuz

AL-Monitor
Mar 15, 2026
FILE PHOTO: Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul attends a press conference with Cyprus' Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia, Cyprus, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul attends a press conference with Cyprus' Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia, Cyprus, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo — Yiannis Kourtoglou

FRANKFURT, March 15 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Sunday that he was sceptical about a potential widening of the European Union's Aspides naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz.

Wadephul said that the mission to help commercial shipments pass through the Red Sea was "not effective".

"And that is why I am very sceptical that extending Aspides to the Strait of Hormuz would provide greater security," he said in an interview on Germany's ARD broadcaster.

(Reporting by Tom Sims and Klaus Lauer; Editing by Alexander Smith)