France has drafted a UN Security Council resolution to establish an international mission to restore movement in the Strait of Hormuz and could submit it if conditions are right, the foreign ministry said on Friday, as Washington struggles to bring a text to a vote that Russia and China may say is biased against Tehran.
Control of the narrow waterway, a vital artery for global energy trade whose virtual closure has led to spiraling oil prices, is a major obstacle in talks to end the three-month-old US-Iran war.
A US-Bahraini resolution on the Strait has been under discussion for more than two weeks, with a vote repeatedly delayed as China and Russia signal they could veto it.
The US-Bahraini draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks and mining in the Strait. China and Russia vetoed a similar US-backed text in April, arguing it was biased against Tehran.
Washington has secured the support of almost 140 countries to co-sponsor its text in hopes of avoiding a veto, two European diplomats said.
France, another veto-wielding power, has so far refused to back the US text.
"There is a draft resolution between the US and Bahrain currently under discussion. This forms the basis of the current discussions. The date for the vote has not yet been announced," France's Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said.
Macron: Working to 'restore freedom of navigation'
France's President Emmanuel Macron has said Paris would soon push an initiative at the UN to cement Franco-British efforts to assemble an international mission to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait once the situation permits, after consultation with Washington and Tehran.
"We are working on an international mission to restore freedom of navigation. We have also prepared, as a permanent member, a draft resolution that could be discussed if the conditions are right," Confavreux said.
The US diplomatic push at the United Nations is in stark contrast to recent months during which it has largely acted outside the UN framework, launching military strikes against Iran without seeking council authorization and pressing allies to join ad hoc naval patrols to enforce freedom of navigation.