The Belgian government has welcomed the announcement that the US and Iran have agreed a framework deal to end the war between the two countries. Foreign minister Maxime Prévot wrote on X that he hoped for a “swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz with unconditional and unrestricted freedom of navigation” following the agreement.
Foreign News
Belgium ‘ready to help’ with reopening of Strait of Hormuz after US-Iran deal
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“We stand ready to help to ensure this,” Prévot said in a post on X on Monday morning. At the end of May, two minesweepers from the Belgian army departed for the Mediterranean to join NATO’s mine countermeasures fleet. France and the UK are coordinating the coalition and must make an official request for support. The government must then give its final approval.
“This deal must open a new era for the region,” Prévot said of the agreement. “It must also open a new era in Iran. An era without nuclear programme and with authorities hearing the legitimate democratic aspirations of their citizens.”
The agreement between the US and Iran is a framework intended to end more than three months of fighting, with an official signing ceremony due to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday.
The deal includes an immediate ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes for oil and gas. The two countries now have 60 days to negotiate a final peace deal. Major issues that need to be resolved include Iran’s nuclear programme, its stockpile of enriched uranium, and billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets held abroad.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, called the announcement “a potential breakthrough”. “It can give much needed space for deeper negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and other critical issues,” she posted on X. “Once implemented, the deal should also ease the global energy crisis.”