Germany turns down US proposal for Persian Gulf maritime coalition

Germany says it has rejected a proposal by the United States to set up a military coalition in the Persian Gulf to counter what it calls the “Iran threat” as tensions mount between Washington and Tehran.

“The US recently presented its concept of a naval observation mission in the Persian Gulf to a number of its allies, including Germany, and asked them to participate.

“The government took note of the proposal, but made no promises. Foreign Minister [Heiko] Maas has repeatedly stressed that, in our opinion, priority must be given to reducing tensions, and to diplomatic efforts. We are in close consultation with France and the UK. Participation in the US strategy of 'maximum pressure' is ruled out for us,” the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement received by Russia’s Sputnik news agency.

PressTV-US says not after ‘anti-Iran’ coalition as allies dither

Washington says the military coalition it seeks to form in the Persian Gulf is not aimed at countering Iran.

The statement came on the same day that German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said his country was working closely with France and Britain amid tensions in the Persian Gulf.

“The goal of all responsible politicians must be to observe the situation very soberly and carefully, and not to sleepwalk into an even bigger crisis,” Scholz said in an interview with the Funke group of newspapers.

“De-escalation is the order of the day,” he pointed out.

PressTV-Russia presents UN with Persian Gulf security plan

Russia submits the UN a proposal that calls for collective security in the Persian Gulf at a time of rising tensions in the region.

Earlier on Tuesday, the United States stepped up diplomatic pressure on Germany, and officially asked the Western European country to join its maritime mission in the Persian Gulf against what it alleged as “Iranian aggression.”

“We've formally asked Germany to join France and the UK to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and combat Iranian aggression,” Tamara Sternberg-Greller, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Berlin (shown in the picture below), said in a statement.

She added, “Members of the German government have been clear that freedom of navigation should be protected... Our question is, protected by whom?”

Many German politicians have reportedly expressed grave reservations about any naval mission, and fear that any such move – particularly one orchestrated and led by the United States – could increase the risk of a military aggression on Iran.

US President Donald Trump regularly criticizes Germany for what he considers its insufficient contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

US Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on July 9 that the US was proceeding with plans to assemble the coalition purportedly aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation in waters off Iran and Yemen.

US to form military coalition in PG against Iran ‘threat’

The US military’s top general says Washington has engaged in talks with a number of countries to form an international military coalition to deter what it calls Iran’s threat to shipping in the Persian Gulf region.

"We're engaging now with a number of countries to see if we can put together a coalition that would ensure freedom of navigation both in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab," Dunford said.

"And so I think probably over the next couple of weeks we'll identify which nations have the political will to support that initiative and then we'll work directly with the militaries to identify the specific capabilities that'll support that," he added.

PressTV-Russia counters US proposal for Mideast maritime alliance

Russia expresses unease and confusion over a US proposal for the establishment of a so-called “maritime security” coalition to patrol the Middle East region’s waterways.

Washington has lately adopted a quasi-warlike posture against Tehran, and intensified its provocative military moves in the Middle East, among them the June 20 incursion of advanced US-made RQ-4 Global Hawk into Iranian airspace over territorial waters off the coastal province of Hormozgan.

PressTV-Iran’s IRGC shoots down intruding US spy drone

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps shoots down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

The UK has also joined the US in fueling tensions with Iran by seizing an Iranian-owned supertanker in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4 in an apparent act of “maritime piracy.” 

Gibraltar extends detention of Iranian tanker for 14 days

A top court in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar has ruled that an Iranian tanker illegally seized in the Strait of Gibraltar can be detained for up to 14 more days.

Two weeks later, a British-flagged tanker failed to stop after hitting an Iranian fishing boat — as is required by international law — in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) impounded the ship after its unsafe maneuver.

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