US working on building new coalition to ensure ships can pass through Hormuz — WSJ

The United States is asking other countries to join a new international coalition that would enable ships to navigate the Strait of Hormuz after traffic through the waterway stalled, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The proposed coalition, dubbed the “Maritime Freedom Construct,” would share information, coordinate diplomatically and help enforce sanctions, the Journal says, citing an internal State Department cable.

“Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy,” the cable sent to US embassies reportedly says. “Collective action is essential to demonstrate unified resolve and impose meaningful costs on Iranian obstruction of transit through the Strait.”

According to the report, the cable says US diplomats should ask their foreign interlocutors whether their countries want to be a “diplomatic and/or military partner,” and that the mission will be run jointly by the State Department and US Central Command.

“The MFC would be complementary to other security maritime task forces, including the maritime planning effort the U.K. and France are leading,” the cable also reportedly says.