The EU is prepared to send additional warships as part of a mission to protect shipping in the Middle East and keep the Strait of Hormuz open “once a ceasefire takes hold,” the bloc’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Friday. Dozens of European leaders, including those of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, convened in person and by video call to discuss organizing a joint maritime force to secure the strategically vital waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is transported and which Iran has effectively closed in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes launched in February.

“Europe will play its part in restoring the free flow of energy and trade, once a ceasefire takes hold,” Kallas said on social media after the meeting. “The EU’s Aspides naval mission is already operating in the Red Sea and can be quickly strengthened to protect shipping across the region. This could be the fastest way to provide support.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called fully reopening the strait “an urgent, shared priority,” adding the EU could contribute by “reinforcing Operation Aspides,” the EU’s naval mission in the Middle East.

The mission’s mandate covers the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman but stops short of the Strait of Hormuz. EU leaders rejected expanding it at a summit in March and Kallas and von der Leyen did not say Friday whether doing so now was in the cards. Tehran said Friday it was “completely” opening the strait in response to a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, allowing gas and oil tankers to transit through it once again.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the news on his social media platform Truth Social, adding a full ceasefire was close to being agreed. “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again.

It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!” the American leader wrote. Markets reacted euphorically, with the price of oil falling sharply amid hopes of a peace deal and an end to the global energy shock after six weeks of conflict.