Macron, July 2 -- France's largest container shipping company has been diverting its vessels around the Cape of Good Hope since Hormuz closed in February, and the home government of CMA CGM has now formally asserted a stake in who clears the mines that are keeping those vessels on the long route.

$8 million for French defence company Thales to supply Oman's civil aviation authority, $2.25 billion for Suez to manage Muscat's water network, $4 billion for EDF to build a 2-gigawatt pumped-storage power plant. The demining announcement was the item that reached beyond the bilateral agenda.

Iran responded the same day. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said demining operations in the Strait of Hormuz would be carried out "exclusively...