On his first day on the job at the Pentagon, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said today that a fresh European-led initiative to defend ships transiting the Gulf was complementary to the Donald Trump administration’s separate efforts to gather allies to protect shipping in the region.
Why it matters: Esper’s comments come after British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Parliament on Tuesday that the European plan “will not be a part of the US maximum pressure policy” in the wake of US-led discussions that attempted to recruit 60 nations into Operation Sentinel, saying that London was committed to salvaging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
