A French-owned container ship has crossed the Strait of Hormuz, in a possible sign that Iran no longer views France as a hostile country after President Emmanuel Macron criticized US President Donald Trump’s stance on the conflict.The Malta-flagged Kribi, owned by French shipping group CMA CGM, crossed the strategic waterway on April 2, according to MarineTraffic ship-tracking data. This is the first French-owned ship to pass since the start of the American-Israeli attacks on Iran at the end of February.The crossing came shortly after Macron’s public disagreement with Trump over the war and his rejection of any military attempt to reopen the strait.Macron said during a visit to South Korea that the proposals “sometimes expressed by the United States” to secure the strategic waterway militarily are not applicable.“It is unrealistic because it would take an enormous amount of time and would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats,” he added, noting the risks posed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and missile capabilities.Read also | “He cannot continue to contradict himself every day”: Macron attacks Trump over his fluctuations in IranHe added that any solution requires a “ceasefire and the resumption of negotiations” with Iran, according to Agence France-Presse.Macron also criticized Trump’s changing messaging on the conflict.
“You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t say every day the opposite of what you said the day before. And maybe you shouldn’t talk every day.”It was not immediately clear how the ship was able to secure safe passage. However, shipping data from LSEG showed that the ship changed its destination on Thursday to “Owner France” before crossing Iranian territorial waters, indicating to Iranian authorities the nationality of its owner.The ship was originally bound for Pointe Noire in the Republic of the Congo. Tracking data later showed it sailing south along the coast of Oman.CMA CGM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.Before the war led to the effective closure of the strait, the route carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. The waterway remains severely disrupted amid the broader conflict in the Middle East.Since the start of US-led military operations, Trump has made mixed statements on strategy, allies and escalation, drawing domestic and international scrutiny.