Trump steps up pressure on European allies to help protect strait of Hormuz | US-Israel war on Iran

Donald Trump has stepped up pressure on European allies to help protect the Strait of Hormuz and warned NATO faces a “very bad” future if its members do not come to Washington’s aid.

Tehran’s effective closure of the vital waterway in retaliation for US and Israeli airstrikes has led to disaster for global energy and trade flows; It caused the largest oil supply disruption in history and a rise in global oil prices.

The US president’s call for allies to enter the war by sending ships to the strait to protect commercial shipping and remove obstacles to global oil supplies was met with a muted response. Australia, France, Japan and the UK are among the countries that say they have no plans to send ships.

Embers He told the Financial Times in an interview:: “It would be appropriate for the people who benefit from the Strait to help prevent anything bad from happening there. If there is no reaction or a negative reaction, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”

European Union foreign ministers will discuss supporting a small naval mission in the Middle East on Monday but are not expected to decide on expanding the mission’s role to include the strait.

Trump also told the FT he may “postpone” the summit with China’s Xi Jinping as he steps up pressure on Iran’s ally Beijing to help secure the strait. It was reported last week that China was in talks with Tehran to allow safe oil and gas transit.

Trump said he expected China to help unblock the strait before flying to Beijing. “I think China should also help because China provides 90 percent of its oil through the straits,” he said, suggesting that waiting until the summit would be too late. “We’d like to know before that.”

On Sunday, Trump said his administration had contacted seven countries for support but declined to name them. He said in an earlier social media post that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others would also join.

“I’m demanding that these countries come and protect their own territory, because this is their territory,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Florida to Washington on Sunday. “That’s where they get their energy.”

The president’s calls have so far resulted in no commitments. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament that Japan was not currently planning to send naval ships to escort ships in the Middle East and confirmed that the United States had not yet made a formal request for assistance.

Prolonged restrictions on tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz could threaten Japan’s energy security. The world’s fifth-largest economy imports 90% of its oil from the Middle East, 70% of which is transported by sea. Takaichi expected to discuss war when he meets Trump in Washington this week

On Monday, Japan began tapping its oil reserves to ease supply concerns; It is the first time Russia has taken this step since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Japan will initially release 15 days of reserves held by the private sector, followed by a month’s worth of state-owned oil, according to Kyodo news agency.

Sending self-defense forces abroad is a politically sensitive issue in officially pacifist Japan. Defense minister Shinjiro Koizumi also pushed back against pressure to send a ship to Tokyo. “What we can do technically and whether we need to do that under current circumstances is a different story,” he said.

Australia also turned down a request for naval assistance. “We will not send ships to the Strait of Hormuz,” transport minister Catherine King told the national broadcaster. “We know how incredibly important this is, but it’s not something we’re asked to do or contribute to.”

Britain has said it is considering sending aerial minesweepers to help clear the waterway of mines to allow the flow of oil exports to resume. But officials said sending ships could make the situation worse, given the volatile nature of the war.

French foreign ministry officials emphasized that their current military posture is aimed at ensuring regional stability rather than escalating the conflict.

South Korea’s presidential office said it would “continue to communicate closely with the United States regarding this issue and will make a decision after careful consideration.”

The blockade in the Bosphorus caused energy prices to rise worldwide. Oil prices continued their rise on Monday, reaching above $104 per barrel in early trading.

With the conflict now in its third week, Trump on Sunday did not put a time frame for the war’s end but said oil prices “will go down as soon as it’s over, and it’ll be over pretty quickly.”

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC it would “certainly be over in the next few weeks, it could be sooner than that.”

Trump said Washington was in contact with Iran but expressed doubt that Tehran was ready for serious negotiations to end the conflict. The US president had previously claimed that Iran wanted to negotiate, but this claim was rejected by Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. “We never asked for a ceasefire, nor did we even ask for negotiations,” Araqchi told CBS. “We are ready to defend ourselves no matter how long it takes”

Araghchi has sought to project an image of strength and resilience despite U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that killed scores of Iranian leaders, sank much of the Islamic Republic’s navy, and devastated its missile arsenal.

“This is not a fight for survival. We are stable and strong enough,” he said. “We don’t see any reason to talk to the Americans because we were talking to them when they decided to attack us and this was the second time.”

While Iran continued to bombard the region with unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles, the effects of the war continued to be felt in the Gulf. The number of people who died after a missile hit a person’s car in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has increased to 7.

On Monday, Dubai Airport, the region’s busiest, was forced to temporarily close its operations again after a “drone-related incident” sparked a fire nearby.

Organizations contributing to this report