France is capable of playing a leadership role in ensuring maritime security in the Persian Gulf but there still has to be coordination with the US Navy, a senior US defense official said Friday ahead of US defense chief's visit to Paris
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2019) France is capable of playing a leadership role in ensuring maritime security in the Persian Gulf but there still has to be coordination with the US Navy, a senior US defense official said Friday ahead of US defense chief's visit to Paris.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper traveled to Stuttgart and London earlier this week.
"Technologically, or capability-wise, in order for it to be successful, there will have to be coordination among our navies in the region. And we will be looking into what we can do to better coordinate and bring our militaries together in a way that multiplies the capabilities in the region recognizing that, again, the capability that France has is significant ... and they can play a leadership role, but I think that there will need to be ... coordination with the United States' capabilities in the region," the official told reporters.
"We see this as distinct from and separate in approach from our state department led pressure campaign against Iran. This is really about ensuring maritime security and freedom of navigation on which all of our economies depend, and that is probably the main message that we are bringing to our counterparts in France in discussing this initiative," the official pointed out.
