The formal Joint Statement confirms 51 nations attended Paris, higher than the 30 to 40 widely reported. More than a dozen committed physical assets. This week Northwood is designing the charter, the command structure, and the deployment plan. The noisy track is Islamabad. The important track is London.
The Suez Canal Authority was built in 1957 during the reopening of the canal, not during the crisis and not years later. The 2026 Hormuz moment is the same narrow window. Thirty days to build the institution, or wait fifteen years for the next crisis.
Thirty non-combatant countries gathered at the Elysee Palace today to launch the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Freedom of Navigation Initiative. The United States was not invited. That absence is the initiative’s most important design choice.
Iran’s military threatens to block the Gulf, Sea of Oman, and Red Sea simultaneously if the US blockade continues. The geography proves why unilateral enforcement fails and why permanent, self-funded chokepoint authorities are the only durable answer.