- France redeployed carrier Charles de Gaulle to Eastern Mediterranean.
- Frigate Languedoc sent to Cyprus after drone attack.
- France skipped NATO Baltic and Atlantic exercises.
- Coalition planned to secure shipping routes near Hormuz.
France does not participate in NATO drills with its sole nuclear-powered carrier, detaches the frigate Languedoc to Cyprus following a drone attack on a British air base, and leads a coalition to infiltrate blocked shipping routes.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron issued the nuclear-driven carrier Charles de Gaulle and its entire carrier strike group the order to divert into the Eastern Mediterranean and skip the NATO exercises in the Baltic Sea and Northern Atlantic as the Iran-US-Israeli conflict was growing fast over the Middle East and into the Gulf.
Macron, in an address recorded in advance and delivered on French television, has said that a comprehensive package of military augmentations would be delivered: the carrier and its fleet of frigates escort, supplementary Rafale jets, air-defence systems and airborne radar capacities which had already been deployed in the area, the air-defence frigate Languedoc sent to Cyprus, and two more surface battle ships heading to support the Red Sea, which would support the EU maritime security mission ASPIDES.
In the existence of this unstable state of affairs and the uncertainty of the impending days, I have ordered the aircraft of Charles de Gaulle as well as its frigate guard to sail into the Mediterranean, Macron said.
Strike Group Composition: Rafales, E-2C Hawkeyes, Five warriors and Italian Support
The redeployment order was issued when the Charles de Gaulle had just returned to Malmo, Sweden, as part of the NATO mission, La Fayette 26. The aircrafts that make up its embarked air group include Rafale marine fighter jets and the E- 2C Hawkeye airborne early-warnings aircrafts.
The carrier strike force consists of the French frigates Alsace, Chevalier Paul and L'Amiral Ronarc'h, the oiler Jacques Chevallier and an Italian destroyer Andrea Doria. The Languedoc, which was an Aquitaine type FREMM frigate, was due to arrive at Cyprus on Tuesday evening.
UK had also separately deployed the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon on the island of Cyprus and Greece conceded to send a frigate.
Drones Crashed, French Bases Attacked: Macron Frames the Drones as Self-Defense
Macron justified the position of France as self-defensive and not as co-bellicosal. He said that French aircraft had already shot down drones in legitimate self-defence in the first hours of the war in the defence of the airspace of allies.
Macron revealed that a hangar of the naval base at France, which was located next to an Emirati base in Abu Dhabi, was hit by an Iranian drone, and there were no casualties, only some material damage. Another French station was also hit.
The Languedoc deployment was triggered by the drone attack on the British Royal Air Force base on Cyprus caused on Monday night by Shaheds made in Iran. "This requires our support. This is the reason why I have instructed that other air-defence forces should also be sent there, and a French frigate, which is the Languedoc," Macron said.
Hormuz Shut, Suez threatened: France Manages to unite Coalition to open shipping lanes
The intention to assist in the restoration of maritime traffic badly troubled by the conflict was also indicated by Macron in France. Having virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz and putting the Red Sea and Suez Canal under their direct threat, he said that France was bringing together a coalition of allies to combine military and commercial resources to open the important shipping lanes.
He demanded the reversion to diplomatic talks and warned the Israelis with express reservations against ground assault in Lebanon but declared that it would be a good idea to terminate the strikes as soon as possible.
This too would be reckless build-up and a gross tactical mistake, he said. France, UK and Germany had already claimed that they had not participated in the Iranian assassinations carried out by the US and Israel on the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 February 2026.
