Trump pressures NATO for help in war against Iran

“It’s appropriate that the people who are beneficiaries of the strait help ensure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told the newspaper Financial Timesin addition to highlighting that Europe and China depend on oil from the Gulf.

“If there is no response or if it is a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,” he added.

Trump on Saturday called on some countries to collaborate by sending “warships” to the Strait of Hormuz to keep it “open and safe” following the announcement by Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, that the strategic passage will remain closed.

“We hope that China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others, who are affected by this artificial restriction, will send ships to the region so that the Strait of Hormuz will no longer be a threat,” Trump wrote in Truth Social. So far, Germany, Italy and Greece have rejected the proposal.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday (16) that the United Kingdom is working with allies, including Europeans, on a “feasible” plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but also made it clear that his country will not get involved in the war in Iran.

The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic passage through which 20% of the world’s oil flows daily. Despite Trump’s public request for collaboration, the allied response was lukewarm, which is why he referred to the war in Ukraine.

“We didn’t have to help them with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of kilometers away from us. But we helped them,” he said.

“Now let’s see if they help us. Because I’ve been saying for a long time that we’ll be there for them, but they won’t be there for us. And I’m not sure they will be,” he added in the interview with the newspaper.