SEOUL: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that a military operation to liberate the Strait of Hormuz is “unrealistic”, while lamenting Donald Trump’s differing daily statements on the Iran war and Nato.

“There are those who advocate for the liberation of the Strait of Hormuz by force through a military operation, a position sometimes expressed by the United States,” Macron said during a visit to South Korea.

“I say sometimes because it has varied, it is never the option we have chosen and we consider it unrealistic,” he said.

French president disapproves of Trump’s remarks that Macron’s wife treats him ‘very badly’

Macron, who landed in South Korea on Thursday after visiting Japan, also expressed frustration at Trump’s statements on the conflict.

“You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t say the opposite every day of what you said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day,” Macron said.

The French president also said that Trump — who on Wednesday poked fun at Macron’s marriage and accent — was undermining the NATO alliance.

“If you create daily doubt about your commitment, you hollow it out,” Macron said, adding that there is “too much talk… going off in all directions”.

The comments that “my wife treats me very badly” were “neither elegant nor up to standard” and “do not merit a response”, the French leader added.

About Trump’s Hormuz opration, Macron said such an action would take excessive time and expose those crossing the strait to “coastal threats”, particularly from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026