France’s Macron Orders Major Naval Deployment to Middle East | 9 March 2026 | France is deploying about a dozen naval vessels, including its aircraft carrier strike group, to the Mediterranean, Red Sea and potentially the Strait of Hormuz as part of defensive support to allies threatened by the conflict in the Middle East. Speaking in Cyprus before visiting the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which arrived this weekend in the eastern Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron sought to reassure his Cypriot counterpart after drones were intercepted heading towards the island last week… Macron, whose navy already provides one warship to that mission, said there would be two in total, but that in all France would deploy eight warships, the aircraft carrier group and two helicopter carriers to the region.