President Donald Trump has called on other nations to help police the Strait of Hormuz and has harsh words for NATO allies if they don’t help.
The Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for about a fifth of the world’s oil, has been largely shut down since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Crude oil prices hovered near $100 a barrel over the weekend, and the average gallon of regular gas is at $3.79 on March 17, according to AAA, and even higher in Florida at $3.861.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran has been completely defeated, but now, Trump is calling on other countries to send backup to reopen the waterway for shipping.
“The Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — A LOT! The U.S. will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well,” he said in a March 14 Truth Social post.
Here is what we know about Trump’s push to get other countries on board with helping to police the Strait of Hormuz.
What is the Strait of Hormuz?
The Strait of Hormuz is a 100-mile-long waterway that connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
As previously reported by USA TODAY, the strait carries 20% of the world’s oil shipments and about 20% of the world’s seaborne liquified natural gas. Most of the oil is from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The strait is one of three major waterways allowing transport of natural gas and petroleum exports from the Persian Gulf to Europe and North America, with the others being the Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal, respectively. Iran’s southern border extends along the length of the Gulf.
Typically, more than 3,000 ships use the strait every month. Most of them transport crude oil, refined petroleum – the equivalent of about 20 million barrels of oil a day – and liquid natural gas from Persian Gulf docks to ports in China, India, Japan and South Korea.
About 4% of those crude oil exports head to the Americas while a portion of oil shipments go to Europe. That waterway closure impacts the amount of oil able to be transported to the United States, resulting in higher prices for both oil and gas.
Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz two days after the start of the war. “The strait is closed,” said an official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps on March 2. “If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guard and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze.”
The U.S. has said Iran is laying mines in the strait.
Did Trump threaten NATO?
Trump told the Financial Times in an interview that was published on March 15 that it would lead to a “very bad” future if NATO allies did not help keep the trade route open.
“I think China should help too because China gets 90% of its oil from the Straits,” Trump told the outlet. He said he also may delay a planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Air Force One on Sunday night, Trump touched again on asking countries to help.
“I’d be interesting (sic) to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the straight open,” he said. He declined to answer which countries specifically he was asking for help, though he mentioned China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK in a social media post over the weekend.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to reporters on March 16, saying he “wished the UK had stepped up sooner and quicker.”
“But he continues to speak with our allies in Europe and is calling on them for support, just as he did when he called on them to step up with respect to their defense spending in NATO. He’s calling them to do more here,” she continued.
But by March 16, Trump slammed allies who didn’t agree to help.
“I don’t do a hard sell on them, because my attitude is: we don’t need anybody,” Trump told reporters. “We’re the strongest nation in the world, we have the strongest military by far in the world. We don’t need them.”
He also said March 17 it was “very unfair” to the U.S. that Europe wouldn’t help by sending minesweepers.
What have other world leaders said
So far, several allies have rejected the call for help with the strait.
“Neither the United States nor Israel consulted us before the war, and … Washington explicitly stated at the outset of the war that European assistance was neither necessary nor desired,” German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said, according to Reuters.
Spain and Italy indicated they would not get involved, per Reuters.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would not be drawn into a wider war in Iran but signaled openness to working with the US to find a plan to keep it open.
“Ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the (oil) market. That is not a simple task,” Starmer told reporters, according to Reuters. “So we’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impact.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, “it’s wise to keep an open mind on whether Europe … in some way can contribute, but with a view towards de-escalation,” according to Reuters.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY; Reuters Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Threads, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump threatens NATO over Strait of Hormuz. Will they send ships?
Reporting by Kinsey Crowley and Kate Perez, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
