At the beginning it was fairly clear to everyone outside the US that this was an illegal war of aggression. That we waited until Iran had struck Israel and gulf countries was at least a fig leaf for the pretence we were doing something reasonable.
What source do you have for French ships being allowed to pass?
I think you're reading too much into this report. It was one ship that according to the story passed by hugging the French coastline. My memory from a radio report at the time was these ships also passed at night.
There's no sense that French ships are consistently getting special treatment.
What source do you have for French ships being allowed to pass?