With no Iran war end in sight, Germany pulls back two navy ships eyed for Hormuz mission

COLOGNE, Germany — The German government is pulling back two navy ships from the Gulf of Aden sent there weeks ago on stand-by to support an eventual post-war Strait of Hormuz security mission, as hope is fading in Berlin that the conflict in Iran will end anytime soon.

Defense leaders ordered the mine hunter Fulda and the support vessel Mosel to redeploy from Djibouti, a European and international naval hub at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, to the eastern Mediterranean, the Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday. The ships and crew will hold there and await further instructions about whether an international Hormuz mission will come to pass at all.

After the U.S-Israeli war against Iran began in late February, European nations pledged to assign naval vessels to a multinational mission for securing shipping in the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, over which Iran claims control. A precondition for such a deployment, governments here said, was that the conflict would ebb to such a degree that none of their ships would come under fire in a war many here consider pointless.

The prospect of a “permissive environment” is now deemed slim by Berlin, the Ministry of Defense announcement reads, as open hostilities have broken out again between Iran and the United States following a period of calm.

Aside from the geopolitical aspect of the redeployment, there is also a more mundane rationale, Navy officials acknowledge: The two vessels’ cooling systems, which rely on sea water, were not built for the high temperatures of the Gulf of Aden environs. The eastern Mediterranean will be a more suitable parking spot for the ships, constructed decades ago with operations in the North Atlantic and Germany-adjacent waters, the hope goes.

The redeployment of the Fulda and the Mosel has been “coordinated with international partners,” the ministry statement reads, as the vessels await an opportunity to tag along with a beefy air-defense escort to make the journey to the Mediterranean. On the way to Djibouti in June, the British air-defense destroyer Dragon provided protection through the Red Sea leg of the voyage.

“I can imagine Trump will criticize the move as a lack of staying power in the region,” said Sebastian Bruns, a fellow at the Royal Swedish Society for Naval Sciences (KÖMS), about the German naval redeployment plans.

But fellow European nations will understand it, as they all are puzzled by the dizzying pace of U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s proclamations variously trumpeting military strikes and prospects of some kind of peace deal, sometimes at the same time, he said.

Bruns criticized the German government for jumping on a bandwagon of “Symbolpolitik” in the first place — taking action only for the envisioned signal of aiding the Americans in some form even though the security context was unclear.

“For such highly specialized units as mine hunters, that role must feel like a waste for the crew,” he said.

The German Ministry of Defense said it will continue to keep the Fulda and the Mosel deployable for a future Strait of Hormuz operation, with officials eying “durable indications for a near-term start” of such a mission.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

德国科隆——随着柏林方面对伊朗冲突短期内结束的希望逐渐破灭，德国政府正从亚丁湾撤回数周前派往那里待命的两艘海军舰艇，以支持战后可能开展的霍尔木兹海峡安全任务。

国防部周四宣布，国防领导人已下令扫雷舰“富尔达”号和支援舰“摩泽尔”号从位于红海南口、欧洲和国际海军枢纽吉布提重新部署至东地中海。舰艇和船员将驻扎在那里，等待进一步指示，以确定是否会执行霍尔木兹海峡国际联合行动。

2月底美以对伊战争爆发后，欧洲各国承诺派遣海军舰艇参与一项多国联合行动，以确保经济重镇霍尔木兹海峡的航运安全。伊朗声称对该海峡拥有控制权。欧洲各国政府表示，这项部署的前提条件是冲突必须缓和到一定程度，以免他们的舰艇在这场被许多人视为毫无意义的战争中遭受炮火攻击。

国防部声明称，柏林方面认为“宽松环境”的前景渺茫，因为在经历了一段平静期后，伊朗和美国之间再次爆发公开敌对行动。

除了地缘政治因素外，海军官员也承认，此次重新部署还有一个更为实际的原因：这两艘舰艇的冷却系统依赖海水，并非为亚丁湾的高温环境而设计。他们希望，对于这些几十年前建造、主要在北大西洋和德国附近海域执行任务的舰艇而言，东地中海将是更合适的停泊地点。

国防部声明称，“富尔达”号和“摩泽尔”号的重新部署已“与国际伙伴协调”，这两艘舰艇正在等待机会，与一支强大的防空护航舰队一同前往地中海。今年6月前往吉布提的途中，英国防空驱逐舰“龙”号在红海航段为其提供了护航。

“我可以想象，特朗普会批评此举表明德国在该地区缺乏持久力，”瑞典皇家海军科学学会 (KÖMS) 的研究员塞巴斯蒂安·布伦斯在谈到德国海军重新部署计划时说道。

他说，其他欧洲国家会理解这一点，因为他们都对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普令人眼花缭乱的声明感到困惑，这些声明时而大肆宣扬军事打击，时而又大谈某种和平协议的前景，有时甚至同时进行。

布伦斯批评德国政府一开始就盲目跟风“象征政治”，仅仅为了发出某种形式的援助美国的信号而采取行动，尽管安全形势并不明朗。

他说：“对于扫雷艇这样高度专业化的部队来说，承担这样的角色对艇员来说一定是一种浪费。”

德国国防部表示，将继续保持“富尔达”号和“摩泽尔”号潜艇的部署能力，以备将来在霍尔木兹海峡执行任务，官员们正在关注“近期启动”此类任务的“可靠迹象”。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。