On 15 October, the German Bundestag voted 421 to 66, with 90 abstentions, to extend German participation in the EU’s EUNAVFOR Aspides naval operation until the end of October 2027. The mission’s mandate protects shipping against Houthi attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb, and its operating area stretches from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, including the Strait of Hormuz. Germany’s contribution consists of sending 350 staff to headquarters and on the flagship, at an estimated total cost of €18.9 million. The Bundestag lauded this move as a “positive signal for transatlantic burden-sharing”, but no German warship is being deployed.
The vote shows broad political backing in Berlin for protecting sea lanes that matter to Germany’s trade-dependent economy and energy prices. But there is a significant gap between the mandate’s aims and the resources committed by participating states to achieve them. Germany will provide staff and aircraft, but no ship, and the Aspides operation received only two of the ten additional vessels EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said were needed for the mission in the Red Sea.
Hormuz exposes this gap further. Berlin has been clear about what a German role in Hormuz would require. Since April, Chancellor Merz has named three conditions for joining an international mission to secure the strait: the war must end, there must be a firm legal basis, such as a UN Security Council resolution, and the Bundestag must approve a mandate. With Iranian attacks on shipping intensifying, and the US threatening to drop the “Mother of All Bombs” (MOAB) on Iranian nuclear and energy infrastructure, the first condition alone remains far out of reach.
The vote shows Germany honouring its defence commitments. But without German ships or a meaningful role in Hormuz, Aspides is unlikely to successfully curb Houthi and Iranian threats at key global maritime chokepoints.
