NATO Rejects Trump’s Demand

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has called on NATO countries to send warships to help efforts in the Strait of Hormuz.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said, “It will be very bad for the future of NATO” if countries do not police the waterway.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump said.

“Whether we get support or not, I can say this, and I said it to them: We will remember,” he added.

U.S. allies have said, “No” to military action in the Strait of Hormuz. Last week, the Armed Forces Minister, Catherine Vaitrin, stated that Paris is “not participating in the war.”

“At this point, there is no question of sending any vessels to the Strait of Hormuz.” She also questions whether Washington and Jerusalem share common end goals in the Iranian conflict.

Trump has said NATO countries supported the joint U.S.-Israeli war, now in its third week.

“I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. Everyone agrees with us, but they don’t want to help. And we, you know, we as the United States have to remember that because we think it’s pretty shocking,” he said.

NATO Countries Respond to Demand in Strait of Hormuz

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the conflict with Iran is outside the scope of NATO and rejected military involvement.

“We will not participate in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by military means. The war in the Middle East is not a matter for NATO. Therefore, Germany will also not become involved militarily,” he stated in a post on social media.

Australia will not send ships to the waterway. On Monday, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, and Local Government, said in an interview with ABC Radio National, “We won’t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something that we’ve been asked or that we’re contributing to.”

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told reporters before he met with Trump, “We don’t have that offensive military capacity in any shape or form, so obviously it’s not something that’s on our agenda. The world is in a very challenging situation, and no one likes war. We certainly don’t as a country, and we want a specific resolution.”

Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles said, “We are on a defense and security mission in Cyprus, and at this moment, Spain is not considering any mission in Hormuz. What we are considering is the demand that the war end.”

She described the war in Iran as an “illegal war that is causing many deaths.”

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares agreed that this “spiral of violence” needs to end and added, “this escalation that does not have clear objectives.”

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he is working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but insisted they “would not be drawn into the wider war,” but that “we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the market. That is not a simple task.”

Starmer turned to other European countries to “bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible.”

Japan has cited legal constraints as a reason not to deploy naval escorts to the Middle East. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi spoke to parliament in an Upper House Budget Committee meeting, “No decision has been made whatsoever regarding the dispatch of escort vessels. We are currently examining what Japan can do independently and what is possible within the legal framework.”

“Legally speaking, this is very difficult. We are carefully examining what can be done within the scope of current laws and what is the best course of action at this time. At the same time, we are continuing to engage with Iran to help de-escalate the situation while also exchanging information with various countries.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says, “Nobody is ready to put their people in harm’s way in the Strait of Hormuz. We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open so that we don’t have a food crisis, fertilizers crisis, energy crisis as well.”

Trump posted on social media on Tuesday, “Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID!”

Sources:

NPR: Trump demands NATO and China police the Strait of Hormuz. So far they are refusing
CBS  News: European Union rejects Trump’s calls for military deployments to reopen Hormuz
Reuters: Trump says NATO’s refusal to help on Iran is ‘very foolish mistake’

Featured Image Courtesy of Daniel M. Hendricks’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License