LONDON

Italy’s foreign minister on Monday voiced doubts about the feasibility of expanding the EU’s naval missions to the Strait of Hormuz to help reopen crude oil shipping routes amid escalating tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, Antonio Tajani said he does not believe the EU’s Aspides and Atalanta naval missions would be expanded to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Aspides is a defensive mission tasked with escorting merchant vessels in the Red Sea, while Atalanta is an anti-piracy military operation operating off the Horn of Africa and in the western Indian Ocean.

"We are willing to strengthen the Aspides and Atalanta missions," Tajani was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying.

He added: "However, I don't think these missions can be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz, especially since they are defensive and anti-pirate missions."

The Strait of Hormuz has been at the center of global energy market concerns since Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced its closure to most vessels amid US-Israeli attacks on the country that began on Feb. 28.

Before the war, about 20 million barrels of oil passed through the strait daily. Its disruption has driven oil prices higher.

US-Israeli attacks on Iran have so far killed more than 1,200 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.